Planning has been granted by Bolton Council for a new eco-home which will be the first zero-carbon property in the North West of England. The 8,000ft² scheme has been designed following close collaboration between the client, Bolton Council and CABE. The client has been heavily involved in the design process from the outset and is passionate about preserving the natural beauty of this area.
High quality design was a driving factor, but the opportunity to deliver a home of the utmost environmental efficiency was identified from the outset.Already billed as ‘a house of the future’, the unique scheme truly tests the boundaries of current sustainable thinking in terms of design and construction. The four-bedroom, single-storey family home is deliberately embedded into the contours of the Pennine hillside to minimise the impact on the surrounding moorland and has a roof of flora and meadow grasses which flows seamlessly over the property and into the landscape.
It has been designed to consume less energy than it uses; a ground source heat pump, photovoltaic panels and a wind turbine will generate on-site renewable energy. The positioning and orientation of the property were carefully considered and it will be built using locally sourced building materials and traditional construction methods.
The design team has worked closely with Peter Rolton, a key member of the Government’s advisory panel for renewable and sustainable energy, and the proposed scheme has already been identified as an exemplar project within the Government’s ‘Planning Performance Agreements for Renewable and Low Carbon Energy Schemes’ programme.
