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The partners behind Northampton Borough Council's housebuilding project have scooped a national award.
Brookside Meadows in the King's Heath area of Northampton has won the Sustainable Smaller Housing Project of the Year award at the Sustainable Housing Awards 2011.
Northampton Borough Council worked in partnership with the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) Frank Haslam Milan (FHM), and Orbit Homes to build eight new council homes at Brookside Meadows. The project was part of the HCA's Local Authority New Build programme, which funded local authorities to build their own council homes for the first time in decades, benefiting from £450,000 investment.
The awards, which are organised by Inside Housing and the Chartered Institute of Housing, recognise achievement in sustainable projects across the social housing sector.
The homes at Brookside Meadows, built on a brownfield site, are constructed to Level 5 of the Code for Sustainable Homes and boast photovoltaic solar panels, heat recovery systems, rainwater harvesting and recycled construction materials. They have a high thermal efficiency due to a closed timber frame construction with high levels of insulation to the walls, floor and roofs and triple glazed windows.
Northampton Borough Council’s portfolio holder for housing, Councillor Christopher Malpas attended the awards ceremony. He said: "Brookside Meadows is the first council housing scheme to be built for decades. For the scheme to be recognised for its approach to sustainable development is a great achievement for Northampton Borough Council and our partners. This is an absolutely fantastic achievement for the team that delivered this project."
Jonathan Turner, HCA Area Manager who oversaw the project, added: "We are really pleased to see the project deservedly recognised for its sustainability credentials. The council and the contractors worked very hard together at the initiation stage to deliver a scheme that achieved code level 5, from which the new tenants as well as the environment are now reaping the rewards."
(CD/GK)
