Large Family Eco-homes Unveiled Near Oldham Town Centre
24th July 2006
Residents will be moving into their large new eco-homes this week in Oldham – the first of their kind in the area and a development, which has bucked the trend towards building larger homes on suburban fringes and on greenfield sites.
Redundant flats on Selwyn Close in Coppice, have been demolished to make way for 18 new four, five and seven bedroom environmentally-friendly properties, which have been designed to harness solar and wind energy.
The £3 million project, recently short listed for a ‘Building for Life’ national award, has been developed by Manchester Methodist Housing Association – (part of the Great Places Housing Group), and has received over £800,000 from the Housing Corporation and a £280,000 contribution from The Oldham Rochdale Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder Project.
The Housing Market Renewal Funding was used to reduce the scheme’s impact on the environment, to pilot the use of renewable energy and to raise the design quality of the overall scheme.
The housing development has achieved an Eco-Homes top rating of ‘excellent’.
The ‘super insulated’ contemporary family homes include solar panels on the ‘saw tooth’ roofs, wind turbines and large windows to maximise light. They have been built using timber windows, and other ‘A’ Rated environmentally friendly materials.
Carports have been incorporated into the scheme to take car parking off the street and these also contain recycling and cycle storage facilities, which also enhance the scheme’s environmental credentials.
10 of the homes are set to have wind turbines installed on their rooftops to generate renewable energy and even more sustainable energy and the effects of these, coupled with the solar power, will be measured and monitored over the next year and it is expected that residents energy bills will be reduced by over a third.
Manchester Methodist Housing Association undertook extensive public consultation with the local community to design the homes to include a flexible and adaptable layout to suit their lifestyle.
Of the 18 properties, 10 are being rented out and the remaining eight have been sold – four outright and four through shared ownership. All were rented or sold off-plan to local people, giving a balanced mix, which the housing association believes will ensure long-term sustainability and contribute to creating a mixed community.
James McMillan, Assistant Director of Development at Great Places Housing Group said: “All too often, small flats and apartments are pushing families out of our towns and cities. This scheme stands out not just for the design but for the fact that this is a development of large family homes near to the town centre, proving that town and city centre living is not confined just to one and two bedroom apartments and there are other options available for local authorities and developers.”
He continued, “We are particularly delighted that Selwyn Close will be the first such scheme in Oldham to harness wind and solar energy, providing a practical and money saving function and acting as a beacon of sustainable regeneration.”
Councillor Dave Hibbert, Oldham Rochdale Housing Market Renewal Board Member and Oldham Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment and Regeneration, said: “It’s great to see people moving into the first new HMR homes in Oldham. They have been built to a very high standard to show the quality that the Pathfinder and its partners demand and that Oldhamers deserve and can afford.
“A further 70 new homes that have received some HMR funding are currently being built and it is estimated that by early 2009 more than 2,700 homes will have been built in Oldham and Rochdale through HMR.”
John Carleton, Field Director (North) for the Housing Corporation said, “Selwyn Close not only represents a high quality development, it is also a key milestone in the plans for the Oldham-Rochdale Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder Project. The Housing Corporation is delighted to have worked in partnership with Manchester Methodist Housing Association and the Pathfinder Project to deliver the first new affordable homes within this significant and important regeneration zone."
Mrs Rejia Bibi, a full time mum will be moving from a three-bed house in Werneth, Oldham that she shares with her husband and five children to one of the new build 5 bedroom houses at Selwyn Close.
She heard about the property’s availability through Oldham and Rochdale HMR and is delighted with her new home.
“I can’t wait to move in,” she said. “It will be great having so much more room for the children. I was amazed by it when I saw the completed house. I expected the rooms upstairs to be quite small but they are great sized bedrooms and it is beautifully done.”
Mrs Bibi needed to move into a house with more space for her children, aged 10, nine, five, two and one – but wanted to stay close to the area.
“This is brilliant in terms of location as well, as it is only across the road from the children’s school.”
Mrs Bibi also loves the eco-friendly aspects of the house. “The solar panels are a great idea and will save us some money off our bills, which is ideal when you have to bath all the children! And I love the tanks in the garden when means we can use recycled rain-water for the plants.”
Photo above: Mrs Rejia Bibi with her children. Back row: Rujina Bibi (10), Reema Bibi (1) and Raheena Bibi (8). Front row: Rumina Bibi (5), Ruman Miah (2)
Photo below: New homes on Selwyn Close, Coppice, Oldham
