Exclusive by Matthew Legg Business editor

Last updated at 08:41, Friday, 20 March 2009

The UK’s first ‘green’ housing estate is to be built on land at Carlisle Racecourse, The Cumberland News can reveal.

Plans are due to be submitted today for 42 luxury homes on the site of the former stables at the Durdar track.

The development, known as The Paddock, will be the first in the UK to be built to level four of the Government’s new stringent Code for Sustainable Homes. By 2013, every new home built in Britain will be required to meet the standard.

The plans, by Carlisle house-builder ND Homes, show a three-acre site featuring luxury townhouses, apartments, terraced and semi-detached properties, plus conversions of existing stables.

They will include three, four and five bedroom homes, some of which will overlook the racecourse starting line.

They will all include energy saving features such as triple glazed windows, air source heat pumps, rainwater harvesting and recycling bins.

All of the homes will be south-facing and will produce 60 per cent of their own hot water, plus some of their heating, through solar panels.

ND Homes estimates the features could save up to 80 per cent on household energy bills.

The company has not revealed asking prices for the properties because of market fluctuations, but stressed they are firmly at the top end.

The firm hopes to start work late this year or early next, but said the current economic uncertainty meant it had not yet committed to a date.

Carlisle City Council will now consider the application, with a decision on planning permission expected in the next six to eight weeks.

Martyn Boak, managing director of ND Homes, told The Cumberland News: “This development will see luxury design and eco-standards being integrated to produce beautiful, contemporary living using environmentally-conscious materials and construction. We are extremely proud to be the first house-builder to be recognised as designing to level four of the Code for Sustainable Homes by the organisation running the code for the Government, and to be doing so four years before the Government’s target of 2013.

“It is very rewarding to know that Cumbria and Carlisle can be seen to be leading the way in innovative and environmentally-sound home building.”

“The Paddock proposals are for an exceptional cluster of exclusive homes on a distinctive setting.

“The homes have been planned with the modern needs and aspirations of the homeowner, as well as the very highest energy efficiency standards, in mind.”

Mr Boak said he believed the slowdown in the housing market, and the freeze on building new properties, would mean a built up demand for homes when the market recovers, which The Paddock development would help to meet.

He added: “When the housing market emerges from its decline, house-builders need to be ready to step up to the mark to meet new demands for modern technology, materials and methods of building; something which we recognise and are achieving in The Paddock development.”

“House buyers will be more demanding, they should be looking for more than the kitchen and bathroom and we have got to adapt and embrace this change.”

ND Homes is a subsidiary of Northern Developments, the firm behind a planned £32m business park on derelict land at Lillyhall, near Workington.

The company bought the site of the former stables from Carlisle Racecourse for an undisclosed amount.

The Code for Sustainable Homes demands that all new homes in Britain be zero carbon by 2016.

The code has six levels: level three demands a 25 per cent carbon reduction by 2010; level four a 44 per cent reduction by 2013; and level six zero carbon by 2016.

First published at 05:22, Friday, 20 March 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk