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Barratt Corporate Responsibility Update 2007
Low Carbon Update
In response to the challenge set by Government, the marketplace and NGO’s, Barratt is pushing forward its low carbon agenda.
Carbon Challenge
Barratt has been selected by English Partnerships, the Government’s National Regeneration Agency, as the preferred developer to create a new community at the site of the former Hanham Hall Hospital near Bristol. Homes on the site will meet the Government’s most exacting eco standard – Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.
Hanham Hall was the first site identified under the Carbon Challenge, being run by English Partnerships as part of the Government’s commitment to tackle climate change. The Challenge will deliver zero carbon homes and communities well in advance of this becoming mandatory in 2016, and help the housebuilding sector demonstrate that the targets are feasible and can be commercially viable.
As well as zero-carbon homes this ground-breaking project will create eco lifestyles. It will hand over a listed building to community use, capture rainwater and include sustainable drainage, farmers’ shops, a car club and bicycle storage.
Steve Carr, English Partnerships’ Director of Policy and Economics, said: “The winning bid isn’t just environmentally sound – it brings people into the equation to create a truly sustainable community. “We are meeting a dual goal – tackling climate change whilst improving housing quality. I am delighted that so many developers rose to the challenge. The winning bid by Barratt tipped the balance because they thought about eco-living not just eco-buildings.”
Hanham Hall is a 6.6 hectare former hospital site near Bristol, incorporating a Grade II listed building. It is anticipated that the site will support up to 200 homes, of which at least a third will be affordable, as well as retail floor space and employment space. The onsite biomass CHP plant will deliver energy to all homes.
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| Barratt Developments have been selected to build the UK’s first zero carbon development meeting Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes at Hanham Hall near Bristol. | |
The Green House
Barratt began construction in late 2007 on the first home by a mainstream housebuilder which is so environmentally friendly that it would meet the criteria for zero stamp duty.
The tax incentive to build ‘greener’ homes was announced in the last Budget by the then Chancellor and was introduced at the beginning of October.
The Barratt ‘Green House’, designed by architects Gaunt Francis, is situated on the BRE Innovation Park at Watford. The zero carbon house will meet the highest level six of the Government’s Code for Sustainable Homes and will be the subject of rigorous scientific testing over a two year period to assess every aspect of the design, construction and materials. Construction of the house is expected to be complete in early 2008.
We plan to take the most successful aspects of the design and apply them to houses that we build in future. Innovative eco-friendly features of the house include:
- Aircrete concrete wall panels and pre-cast concrete floor slabs – heavyweight concrete construction achieves high thermal mass which mitigates peaks and troughs of temperature change within the house.
- An Air Source Heat Pump converts the energy of air from indoors or outdoors into heat supplying the internal needs of the house.
- Clothes drying is achieved at the head of the stairs using warm air rising through the house.
- Hot water to be supplied by a solar hot water panel on the roof which is connected to the central storage unit.
- Automatic window shutters controlled by the occupier system will help prevent over-heating of the house during the summer.
- PhotoVoltaic panels on the south-facing roof and the adjacent building will simulate a district power supply (it is more efficient to power 20 homes than one).
- A ‘rainwater harvesting’ system used to provide water to flush the lavatories.
Thanks to these features, the house will have no need of standard household appliances such as a tumble drier or radiators.
The award-winning design, which was voted for by more than 22,000 readers in the British Homes Awards, has undergone some modifications in an extensive collaboration being led by the National Centre for Excellence in Housing (National Centre).
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The Barratt Green House at the BRE Centre in Watford. The first home by a mainstream house builder which is so environmentally friendly that it would meet the criteria for zero stamp duty. |
Buckshaw Village
BARRATT recently published preliminary findings from its pioneering ‘eco village’ project in Chorley, Lancashire – a 15 month experiment into how effectively ‘green’ technologies can be incorporated into new homes.
Academics from The University of Manchester have been monitoring the renewable technologies which Barratt installed in the seven-unit development and are now compiling the report on their performance.
Key preliminary findings include:
The Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) – ‘worked very well’. On average a GSHP could generate 2.6 times the amount of energy it consumed. At these performance levels, an £7,800 GSHP would reduce CO2 emissions by 62 per cent and would take around 15 years or less to pay for itself at today’s electricity prices using a simple payback method of analysis.
Photovoltaic (PV) roof panels – ‘worked very well’. On average, an unobstructed PV system generated 850kWh of electricity a year. At these performance levels, with a net-metering arrangement and a Renewable Obligation Certificates income, a £4,500 PV system would take around 37.5 years or more to pay for itself at today’s electricity prices.
Solar Hot Water Thermal Collectors (SHW) - ‘reasonably satisfactory’. On average, a 2.5 sq m or higher SHW unit could heat a 180 litres tank of hot water on a cloudless day. The simple payback period will depend on the hot water demand of the household and this work is still progressing.
Micro-Wind Turbines (mWT) – ‘disappointing’. Both the 1.7m and 1m mWT performed below the theoretical available output based on the recorded wind speed throughout the trial period. Simple payback period analysis has not been carried out.
Micro-combined Heat & Power (CHP) units – ‘trouble free’. On average, the electricity to heat generation ratio of the mCHP units was around five per cent. It is still under trial and further results will be published at a later date.
The eco village project is the first of its kind by a major UK housebuilder. Barratt has used it to test-run the ‘green’ technologies at the forefront of the Government’s drive to make all new homes in Britain zero carbon by 2016.
Monitoring of the Barratt EcoSmart Show Village is being led by Dr Tony Sung, Chairman of CIBSE Electrical Services Group and Lecturer at the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering at The University of Manchester.
Dr Sung is examining how much each ‘low carbon’ technology costs to install, what exactly it can and cannot do, what combinations work best, what they will save in terms of carbon emissions and whether householders could expect to make any cost savings as a result of living with them.
Dr Tony Sung said: "The Barratt EcoSmart Show Village has been invaluable to provide us with a wealth of performance data on various low carbon technologies installed in the seven test houses. It has shown that there are low carbon technologies for us to use for reducing or offsetting carbon emissions from our homes.”
The experimental prototype technologies have now been removed from the Chorley showhouses, which will be sold to members of the general public. More research on the low carbon technologies used at the eco village will continue at The University of Manchester by the Built Environment Research Group for a further two years.
The findings will then be published for the benefit of homebuyers and the rest of the housebuilding industry. For more details of performance data already captured go to www.barratthomes.co.uk/ecosmart
The technologies which have proved most effective are already being incorporated into Barratt’s ‘Green House’ at the BRE Innovation Park in Watford. Currently under construction, it will be the first home in Britain built by a mainstream housebuilder which is so environmentally friendly that it meets the criteria for zero stamp duty. It will also meet the highest level six of the Government’s Code for Sustainable Homes.
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| The Barratt EcoSmart Show Village at Chorley, Lancashire, comprises seven new homes packed with the latest in energy-efficient and 'green' technologies and is the first project of its kind by a major UK housebuilder. |
E. ON Collaboration
Barratt and E.ON, one of the UK’s leading power and gas companies, have teamed up to deliver low cost and reliable solutions to meet the Government’s zero carbon homes agenda.
The alliance is the first of its kind in the UK and will draw on Barratt’s expertise in energy-efficient homes and E.ON’s world-wide experience in low-carbon energy technology and research and development facilities.
This will initially concentrate on 10 Barratt sites comprising several thousand homes across Great Britain and will explore the best technical solutions to meet planning requirements. Drawing on E.ON’s worldwide low carbon technology, the collaboration will provide the most cost effective and reliable energy solutions to Barratt’s new housing developments, ranging from combined heat and power plants to micro renewable technology for individual homes.
The initial sites are likely to include St Andrew’s, a former hospital in Bow where 20 per cent of the energy used will be renewable; the former Osbourne Refrigeration factory in Southampton which will comprise 90 residential units; and Hanham Hall, a 200-unit development near Bristol.
Graham Bartlett, Managing Director at E.ON Energy, said: “This is an exciting development for E.ON and our Sustainable Energy Solutions business which we launched last year.”
“We’re committed to being a leader in the development of low carbon energy solutions. This will play a key role in helping our customers, in this case Barratt, to achieve their low carbon objectives and help the Government to meet its carbon reduction targets.”
Mark Clare, CEO of Barratt Developments, said: “This collaboration will provide us with a competitive edge as finding the best low carbon energy solutions is a vital part of future housing developments. It will enable us to provide the lowest cost and most reliable way of cutting emissions for our customers.”
UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC)
MARK Clare, Chief Executive of Barratt Developments has been appointed Chair of the UK - GBC task group on zero carbon homes.
The group are to report to Government on the definition of zero carbon, recommending a way to include off-site renewables within the definition.
The group of 12 includes representatives from major house builders, engineers, developers and energy suppliers.
The purpose of the Zero Carbon Task Group is to examine the options for meeting the energy needs of very efficient homes in the most effective way to achieve the target of zero carbon development by 2016, while optimizing the use of the UK’s renewable energy resources locally and nationally.
The group will gather expert evidence and report back by Spring 2008 on the best way to accredit off-site renewables. The zero carbon task group is part of the UK - GBC’s contribution to Government’s 2016 Taskforce.
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