Many of the eco-homes and developers profiled on whatgreenhome.com have been making the news. Housebuilder Living Villages, the developer of The Wintles, scooped the prestigious Daily Telegraph/Your New Home Housebuilder of the Year Award, as well as winning awards for best Eco-development and best Landscape. Flush from their success, Living Villages have launched a project of 66 two- to five-bedroom houses and apartments built in a contemporary Cornish style at St Mellion, Cornwall.
Living Villages is not the only recent winner. Ecos Homes, the developer of The Old Apple Sore, Stawell, which is profiled on whatgreenhome.com, has won project of the year, as well as regeneration and sustainability awards for its mixed-use development, Great Bow Yard and Great Bow Wharf in Langport at the South West Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Awards. As a result, Ecos Homes’ pioneering project will be entered into the national final, hosted by Kevin McCloud, which takes place in London on 17 October 2008.
The Village, Coconut Island, Phuket, Thailand, was recently a focus of a news report on national TV. Sales director Jay Walker was interviewed about the ecological practices implemented at the resort. The TV interview was inspired by The Village having been awarded a Commended kitemark for its commitment to sustainability by whatgreehome.com. Walker said: “For whatgreenhome.com to award us a kite mark was very much appreciated. We look forward to working alongside whatgreenhome.com for a long time to come.”
In Spain, the Harrial Resort Hotel and Spa, in Calasparra, will be launched in the next few weeks based upon the same sustainable features of Las Torrentas, which is profiled on whatgreenhome.com.
Gran Monovar continues to develop at a pace. Construction of the structure of the houses in the first phase of development has commenced. It is expected that two showhouses (semi-detached villas) will be built by summer. They will be operational models that will demonstrate the range of sustainable technologies being implemented.
Showhomes have recently been opened at NU@D2, Northamptonshire. The showhomes include the three bedroom Vickery and Providence styles, and the Amherst and Newpoint Alpha two-bedroom apartments. All feature solar panels that reduce residents’ hot water bills and help the environment. Karen Heath, sales negotiator, said: “People like the idea of buying a home with eco-features pre-installed. The show homes are a great way of explaining the ‘green’ and healthy concept of NU@D2.”
Prospective buyers at The Bridge in Dartford, Kent, which has been designed by Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway MBEs, using the Dutch ‘homezone’ concept with pocket parks that act as focal points for each cluster of homes, are being given the chance to win a brand new apartment – simply by cracking the code to George Wimpey’s safe. Over the weekend of Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 June, the first 1,000 people arriving between 10am and 5pm can register their details and see if they can open the safe holding the key to the stylish apartment.
Over at low carbon Ecostessey Park, near Norwich, buyers are being offered five years of free energy. Ron Beattie, managing director of specialist building company Roy Williamson Properties, said: “Given the ever-rising price of oil, we believe our commitment to pay homeowners’ utility bills for their first five years is quite an incentive. We have incorporated many energy efficient measures into our homes; our research in the show houses is proving that this greatly reduces utility bills. Apart from on-site solar and photovoltaic panels, we are also sourcing green electricity from Ecotricity’s windfarm.”
Eco-development profiles in Egypt, as well as others in the UK and elsewhere, have been added in recent weeks to whatgreenhome.com. The profiles of these eco-homes brings the number of countries where properties are for sale on the website to 22; in total there are now approximately 60 eco-developments profiled on the website.
