Hill was selected as the preferred joint venture partner by Cambridge City Council after a competitive tender process in December 2012. Virido (which means ‘to become green’ in Latin) comprises 104 affordable properties, owned and managed by Cambridge City Council, and 104 private properties sold through Hill. The property sizes range from one bedroom apartments to four bedroom houses and each property will be built to Level 5 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.
Kevin Price, Executive Councillor for Housing, said, “I am delighted that this project has passed the key milestone of planning approval. The Council has always intended to demonstrate that we can lead quality new build housing projects that set standards in terms of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. I congratulate Hill and their design team in rising to this challenge and I look forward to the completion of the new housing that will benefit people from all walks of life.”
Rob Hall, Deputy Managing Director at Hill, commented: “This is a landmark site for us as a developer but also for Cambridge. It underlines the city as one of the UK’s innovation and technology hubs at the forefront of the sustainability agenda, and we are delighted to have been entrusted by the council to develop this important project.
“By pioneering new technological advances in residential development this site will become one of the largest and most sustainable sites in the country. We also want to ensure that the properties perform in their primary capacity, as comfortable and useable homes, and this is why we have enlisted two families to trial our Virido concept houses for one year. These families will provide us with vital information on how people interact and use this technology on an everyday basis and this will help us to hone the properties we are building.”
Externally, the homes have been designed to provide a suitable thermal mass to even out extremes of temperature with mechanical ventilation heat recovery systems (MVHRs) for night purging of warm air. The building materials are sustainably sourced and will take into account their long-term maintenance and appearance.
Additional design features such as solar shading, deep window reveals, higher performance glass and interstitial blinds will ensure that living rooms do not exceed 28°C and bedrooms do not exceed 26°C for more than 1% of the occupied hours. Internally there are water efficient appliances and fixtures, ‘technical rooms’ to accommodate all the necessary equipment, triple-glazed windows and extensive insulation.
The landscape design features extensive areas of green spaces, green roofs, ponds and trees. There will also be a development-wide rainwater harvesting system for all dwellings. Great Kneighton lies approximately three miles to the south of Cambridge City Centre and will deliver 2,300 new homes between Trumpington and Addenbrooke’s Hospital.
The construction of Virido is to commence in 2015. Hill has recently finished the construction of a pair of concept houses. The concept homes will incorporate many of the sustainable features included in the larger site and Hill and Cambridge City Council will be trialling the zero carbon lifestyle with both end users.
The aim of this year long concept homes project is to undertake detailed research into which features actually work for a real family and which do not. A post-graduate student from Leeds Beckett University has been brought in to monitor their health and well-being, as well as assess how easy the technology is to use. These results of the research will impact on which features are incorporated into Virido and demonstrate the benefits of the homes.
To find out more about the Virido project visit www.hill.co.uk
Cambridge City Council
Cambridge City Council owns the freehold of approximately 6.75 acres of land at the centre of the Clay Farm development area on the Southern Fringe of the city. This land will provide up to 208 dwellings and up to 540 square metres of retail space. The Council has opted to retain the ownership and management of 50% of the dwellings Affordable Housing and also the retail space. The Affordable Housing will be required to be built to space standards that are in line with those being considered as part of the Council’s Local Plan Review.
Hill was selected through a European Union compliant tender process. As part of the process bidders were initially tested against their experience in delivering housing to high standards of energy efficiency and other sustainability standards
Hill
“To be the leading, most trusted provider of distinctive, quality homes in the UK”.
Hill is a UK top 20 housebuilder and one of the leading developers in London and the south east of England delivering both private for sale and affordable homes.
The company develops a variety of bespoke properties, including multi-million pound family houses, first time buyer homes, and £100m mixed tenure regeneration projects, third age homes and community facilities.
As part of the company’s progression from contractor to housebuilder, Hill rebranded at the beginning of 2014, amalgamating its Hill Residential and Hill Partnerships brands into one unified business – Hill.
*******
For press information, please contact:
The Wriglesworth Consultancy on 020 7427 1400
Anna Geffert, Account Director - [email protected]
Olivia Husband, Account Executive – [email protected]
______________________________________________________