A GOOD ENERGY New homes

A good energy ZOE DARE HALL EXPLORES THE NEW LONDON PROPERTY DEVELOPMENTS PROVING YOU CAN LIVE SUSTAINABLY AND STYLISHLY

Carbon neutral, energy positive, net zero… There’s a new language to master these days if you’re in the market for a home that will do its bit to save the planet. And while anyone browsing The Arbour (the-arbour. co.uk) in East London’s Walthamstow Village is probably well-versed in talk of carbon sequestering and air source heat pumps, they’re unlikely to have seen anything quite as environmentally friendly as this before.

The Arbour’s developers gs8 (gs8.london) describe themselves as “the new kids on the block in an archaic industry” and claim that this is the world’s first “planet-positive” development. The ten properties, priced from £850,000 to £1.5m, are net energy positive, carbon-negative and zero-waste homes. In other words, they generate more energy than they consume, which means no energy bills for owners. They store more embodied carbon than they use in construction from the remaining synthetic materials. And there hasn’t been a single skip on site. Everything used in the building process has been recycled from gs8’s other sites, or the old industrial buildings that previously occupied this backstreet plot in E17.

The interiors tick every eco box too. No paint has been used anywhere. Instead, the walls are clad in birch plywood or bare brick made from excavated soil. What looks like marble on the kitchen worktop is actually moulded wood shavings, and a cool, modern shower enclosure is clad in recycled yoghurt pots. There are endless other examples throughout that show how it’s possible to live stylishly with a clear (eco) conscience. The homes are fully deconstructable too, “like a giant Meccano set,” says gs8’s co-founder Josh Gordon, so their end of life has as little impact on the environment as their lifespan.

One of the greatest test beds – which has shown how, even over a 20-year development process it can still be environmentally ground-breaking – is King’s Cross, a carbon-

GETTING THE GREEN LIGHT

Right: The Arbour in Walthamstow Village is a group of ten zero-waste homes Below: Blending modern technology and considered interior design, Capella King's Cross's 120 apartments are connected to the district's communal renewable energy source

neutral neighbourhood that is on the way to being net zero. The 67-acre estate is entirely powered by green gas and electricity, it’s home to more BREEAM Outstanding buildings than anywhere else in the UK, and it’s zero waste and traffic free.

Capella (capellakingscross.co.uk), where prices start at £650,000 for a studio apartment through Knight Frank, is the last residential piece in King’s Cross’s jigsaw. And like the rest of the estate, it benefits from being connected to the Energy Centre, which means its powered solely by renewable energy. “One key thing we did was to link all the buildings with one energy system, at huge expense. It’s something you have to do if you build a new city district,” comments Robert Evans, CEO of Argent, the developers behind King’s Cross’s £3bn regeneration.

Even when planning work on the estate began in 2001, “we always knew sustainability was a key driver, even though the regulatory system isn’t always up to carrying out the environmental measures that everyone now celebrates,” says Evans. With the experience of King’s Cross under their belts, Argent can be even more ambitious with their next huge project, Brent Cross Town, which will be net zero by 2030 and avoid gas altogether.

Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s global head of research says: “These large, set-piece developments show how we can deliver sustainability at scale and make it what buyers want.” And London’s South Bank is emerging as a testbed for eco- development, which chimes with the

PLAYING IT COOL Below and right: The Zero SW20 won the Energy Efficiency 2022 award for best London development; South Bank's Triptych was designed with a passive approach, which means that maximising daylight and fresh, filtered air will help regulate the buildings' internal temperatures

area’s wealthy, young demographic of buyers and renters.

Among the latest additions to the South Bank skyline is Triptych (triptychbankside.com), a mixeduse development due for completion early next year, whose three towers include 169 apartments priced from £790,000 for a studio flat through Savills and Strutt & Parker. At its top end, there’s a sub-penthouse for £5.5m. “Just because the purchase price is high, it doesn’t mean a blind eye is turned to running costs,” comments Nina Coulter, director of Savills’ residential development sales. “In fact, wealthy buyers are often the most financially savvy. It's how they became wealthy. And eco features and energy efficiency are becoming increasingly important to prospective buyers as the cost of living increases.”

Triptych’s developers, JTRE London, say sustainability is integral to the development’s design. Its passive design approach means maximising daylight and fresh air throughout the buildings to control internal temperatures more efficiently. A modern MVHR (Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery) system removes stale air and replaces it with fresh, filtered air. And photovoltaic solar cells will generate electricity in the communal areas, reducing consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

So far it seems it’s striking the right note with prospective buyers, who range from young City types to older couples wanting a second home. “They’re interested in energy-performance certificates, how waste is managed and what materials have been used, including whether the paint is non-toxic,” says Coulter. “Buyers are increasingly interested in purchasing from socially responsible developers. We’re living in an age of accountability on all fronts. When people buy new-build, they feel like they are doing their bit for the environment as most new builds are very energy efficient.” A case in point is The Zero SW20 in Raynes Park (hamptons.co.uk/the-

“WHEN PEOPLE BUY zero), near Wimbledon Village, whose 35 NEW-BUILD, THEY FEEL apartments – priced

LIKE THEY’RE DOING THEIR BIT FOR THE from £410,000 through Hamptons – recently won the Energy Efficiency ENVIRONMENT” 2022 award for the best London development. The scheme was built with the aim of achieving zero-carbon status and A-listed energy efficiency, “ultimately providing occupants with significantly cheaper energy bills at no extra cost to them”, says David Fell, senior analyst at Hamptons. Building a completely air-tight building, that would still be well ventilated, and done as economically as possible was the starting point. Every appliance in the apartments needed to have the best energy ratings (Siemens turned out to be the winning choice), and there are ten Tesla Powerwall batteries that store excess energy so they can power the apartments. L For more eco property analysis, see Property News p58