£8M Low Carbon Community is child's play

Thursday 14th January 2010

A zero carbon house designed by a 10-year-old old schoolgirl is due to be built in a proposed £8million 80-home low carbon community in the Midlands.

Plans for the 'Redditch Low Carbon Co-op', which will be run by local people, were submitted to Redditch Borough Council.

The project will include two zero carbon homes based on a design by Jennifer Brook, who won a competition to design the 'Eco Home of the Future' in 2008 when she was aged just 10.

The site will also include two low carbon houses constructed using 70% recycled materials and 75 timber Eco Homes with sedum 'grass' roofs and solar panels, which use 50% less energy than traditional brick-built properties.

The Redditch Low Carbon Co-op, which will be managed by local people as a co-operative, will save 500 tonnes of Co2 in construction by using timber rather than traditional brick.

The site, off Redstone Close in Redditch, will also preserve oak woodland and a medieval hedgerow, as well as Roman archaeological earthworks including ancient drainage ditches.

The project will be delivered by Redditch Co-operative Homes in partnership with the Accord Group and Redditch Borough Council.

RCH Manager Carl Taylor said: "This will be a unique community bringing together the latest in green technology while preserving and enhancing the natural habitat.

"We are particularly excited for Jennifer who dreamed of seeing her Eco Home design become a reality. She should be able to actually show people around it by the summer of 2011."

The twin 'Jennifer Houses' will be zero carbon and built to Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes. The remaining houses, which are made from sustainable Scandinavian timber, will be built to Code Level 4.

Jennifer, now 12, said: "I think it's really fantastic that a house is actually going to be built that uses some of the ideas from my design. I can't wait to visit it with some of my friends once it's been finished."

Jennifer was a pupil at Cawston Grange School in Rugby when she beat more than 70 other youngsters from across the Midlands in designing an Eco Home chosen by environmental campaigner David Bellamy.

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