Here you will find the proposals to regenerate homes on Harewood Road, Carisbrook Road and Iver Road in Pilgrims Hatch. We seek to provide a minimum of 40 new zero carbon ‘in use’ affordable homes for Brentwood residents. Throughout 2022 we carried out extensive consultation with residents and the local community and we submitted our planning application to Brentwood Council in September.
Background
Harewood Regeneration is the second regeneration scheme to come forward as part of the Council’s Affordable Housing Development New Council Homes Programme. The programme seeks to support the objectives and corporate promises of Brentwood Council’s Corporate Strategy – Brentwood 2025.
Brentwood 2025 - Brentwood Council’s Corporate Strategy
Brentwood 2025 commits to introducing ‘innovative carbon reduction and absorption schemes’ which ‘identify opportunities for low emission and green developments’ all whilst using brownfield sites efficiently, such as council-owned garages and other under-used sites.
The strategy also commits to increasing the delivery of housing to meet local needs with an appropriate mix of housing sizes, types and tenures, to provide affordable housing for residents.
Affordable Housing Development New Council Homes Programme
To support these objectives and corporate promises, the Council implemented the Affordable Housing Development New Council Homes Programme to deliver new homes on Council owned land, aiming to meet Zero Carbon standards and offer a range of high-quality and energy efficient buildings, and address the needs and circumstances of residents, now and in the future.
The programme has so far assessed and scored 19 sites for the delivery of new Council Homes and a further nine sites are being considered.
Brookfield Close, Hutton (planning approved - June 2021)
The first scheme to come forward as part of the Affordable Housing Development New Council Homes Programme was Brookfield Close and Courage Court in Hutton.
In June 2021, following extensive consultation with residents and the local community, planning permission was granted by the Council to deliver 62 zero carbon ‘in use’ homes.
We are currently in the process of finding new homes for the directly affected council tenants.
What does zero carbon ‘in use’ homes actually mean?
- Zero carbon ‘in use’ refers to operational carbon; this means the carbon emissions generated during the building’s lifetime, relating to its use, and mainly from the building’s energy demand.
- To achieve homes with net zero emissions, we therefore need to make up for or offset the energy it uses with energy derived from renewable energy sources.
How will we achieve zero carbon ‘in use’ homes?
The building design and specification: the new homes will be built to Passivehaus Standard, meaning they will be designed and insulated to a much higher grade so that they are able to retain heat in the winter and keep cool in the summer – without using lots of energy to do so.
Renewable energy generation on site: for example, by solar panels and ground source heat pumps. These technologies will produce enough green energy to supply the new homes.
100% electric energy supply: there will be no gas boilers or cookers. Excluding gas means zero reliance on non-renewable energy sources which generate carbon emissions.
The homes will become so well performing that the energy required to heat them, and maintain the heat, is expected to considerably reduce. For those who live in the homes it also means much cheaper energy bills – heating bills could be up to 50% less than existing bills.
