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A competition to design some of the most energy efficient eco homes in the UK, which can compete on price with the cost of building standard houses, has been launched in Wales.
The architectural design competition, which is open to any architectural practice, calls for high quality designs for a two bedroom starter home and a three bedroom family home.
Launched by the Welsh Assembly Government and Blaenau Gwent Council in association with the Building Research Establishment (BRE), the winning designs will be built at The Works: Ebbw Vale by United Welsh Housing Association.
Sustainability is at the heart of The Works, a major regeneration project which is transforming the 200 acre steelworks site into a £350 million mixed use development.
Once built the sustainable homes will serve as a showcase for energy saving building techniques and technologies and a model of how highly energy efficient homes can be built at no additional cost.
Funding for the construction of the two houses will be provided by the Assembly Government's Heads of the Valleys strategic regeneration programme.
The competition is seen as a unique opportunity for the design and construction industry to create the Welsh Passive House, combining the principles of the highly efficient PassivHaus low carbon building standards, pioneered in Germany with the higher levels of the Code for Sustainable Homes in Wales (CSH).
Leighton Andrews Deputy Minister for Regeneration, said targets set by the Welsh Assembly Government had already placed Wales at the forefront of sustainable construction in the UK.
He said: "The design competition is an exciting challenge for architectural practices to come up with some innovative highly sustainable designs that will be examples of best practice that can be replicated elsewhere in Wales. A particularly important aspect of the competition will be to demonstrate to the construction industry that highly energy efficient homes need cost no more than standard homes to build.
"The winning designs will be models for developers as well an important education resource demonstrating new techniques and technologies."
(CD/JM)
