The Coventry Society commends Citizen Housing for committing to a new scheme for high performance homes in Eastern Green in Coventry.
The project at Pickford Gate comprises 247 homes as part of the Eastern Green Sustainable Urban Extension.
The site, near the A45, will include 140 affordable homes – 19 affordable rent, 6I social rent and 60 shared ownership homes.
Citizen is working with Countryside Partnerships, part of Vistry Group, to build on the site.
Built using modern methods of construction to reduce the carbon footprint of the properties, the homes will be manufactured off site using open panel timber frames.
Each home built using these panels emits 14,460kg CO2e less than a traditional brick-and-block house and provides maximum energy efficiency helping future residents to cut their fuel bills.
The development is going to be made up of two, three and four bedroom homes and is scheduled to be completed in spring 2027.
Executive director of development at Citizen, Nick Byrne, said: “It’s great to see work is well under way at Pickford Gate and that we have started on the first phase at the site.
“More than 50 per cent of the homes at the site are affordable which will help with the housing need in the area.
“At Citizen we will build the homes to meet the needs of our region and our work at Pickford Gate is part of this.
“This site is being constructed using timber frames which are a modern method of construction. Timber frames are a natural and renewable material and as the timber frames are created off-site, it means that build time on site is reduced.
“We’re looking forward to seeing the site progress over the next year and look forward to welcoming our customers into the homes when they are finished.”
Citizen Housing is a partner in the Homes for the West Midlands Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), which has been set up by the Mayor of the West Midlands to promote the development of affordable housing and modern construction methods in the region.
Most house building in England is undertaken by four huge housebuilding companies, using traditional construction methods which are hopelessly out of date and achieve appalling standards of thermal efficiency. This will not help the country achieve net zero. We commend Citizen in seeking an alternative approach.