Children from Fernwood Infant School, Wollaton, Nottingham, had a close-up view of super-green eco homes built by Lovell at the University of Nottingham.

The tour for 120 pupils was organised by Lovell to tie in with the pupils’ studies on the environment and sustainability.

The two homes were built by Lovell and Tarmac, in partnership with the university, as part of a pilot scheme to create environmentally-advanced homes using standard masonry materials and techniques. One of the homes is a zero-carbon house – which means it produces zero carbon emissions – with features such as solar hot water panels and solar photovoltaic panels which generate electricity from sunlight. Both homes also achieve high levels of air tightness and insulation with a wood pellet boiler providing space and hot water heating.

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Pupils were given a tour of the properties at the University's School of the Built Environment and sketched the buildings.

"The children loved looking round and asking us questions," said Lovell Development Co-ordinator James Willcox. "They showed plenty of insight into the construction of the homes and knew how important it is to save energy, why homes need to be airtight and the way that solar energy can be used for electricity and heating."

The two Nottingham eco houses have been built to achieve the higher levels of the Code for Sustainable Homes, the system for measuring homes’ environmental performance. One house achieves Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes while the other is a zero-carbon property, built to Level 6 of the Code. The government has set a target for all new homes to be zero-carbon from 2016. Energy usage will be closely monitored at the finished Nottingham homes.

(CD/GK)