Excellent Ecohomes get planning permission

Planning permission for homes that emit 60 per cent less carbon than standard houses has been granted.

The Three Gardens project in Elmswell will see buildings constructed to Ecohomes Excellent standard using locally sourced green materials.

Sustainability advice was given to the competition winning architecture firm Riches Hawley Mikhail Architects by Buro Happold, which claimed the combined effects of environmental measures would result in homes that emit less than regulation-compliant buildings.

The buildings will be based on timber frames, with walls made of 'hemcrete', a hemp-and-lime matrix which is sprayed onto a wooden framework. The hemp, as well as the sheep's wool which will be used for insulation, can be sourced locally.

"These measures, together with the biomass boiler-fired community heating system, will help the development reduce carbon emissions by around 60 per cent, compared to a standard regulations-compliant building," Alasdair Young, sustainability engineer and project leader from Buro Happold told the East Anglian Daily Times.

The Ecohomes standard, which applied when the homes were designed, was replaced in April 2007 by the Code for Sustainable Homes, which awards a top rating of six stars for sustainability.