The village of South Nutfield, Surrey will boast the most energy efficient social housing in the UK on 18 April, when Osborne and Raven Housing Trust officially open the Mid Street housing development. The Mid Street homes, which comprise the first 100% affordable housing scheme to achieve Level 5 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, will be opened by local MP Peter Ainsworth, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. The development will make the concept of an affordable, sustainable home a reality for two families who will be nominated to live in the homes by Tandridge District Council.

The energy usage at Mid Street will be monitored by the Energy Saving Trust and records will be kept on how much energy - and money - is saved by the residents in utility bills over the next two years.

The new homes are very much in-keeping with the surrounding area and mirror the predominantly red-brick Victorian architecture of the village. However despite their conventional appearance, the properties boast a raft of green features such as photo-voltaic panels, biomass wood-chip boilers and UPVC windows. They were built using highly innovative structural insulated panels which contribute to a reduction in the homes' energy consumption. Their tenants will therefore enjoy cheaper fuel bills and a more sustainable way of life.

The new scheme has been built on a disused piece of brown-field land owned by Tandridge District Council. The Council transferred the land to Raven Housing Trust at no cost, and will also be contributing additional funding to enable the scheme to achieve Level 5 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

The Housing Corporation will be providing £157,000 in social housing grant, and both Osborne and Raven Housing Trust have provided supplementary funding to make the Mid Street homes a reality. Other funders involved include: BERR (former DTI) Low Carbon Building Programme Phase 2 and The Energy Saving Trust.

Andrew Osborne, Group Corporate Development Director comments: "This is a great achievement on the part of Raven Housing Trust, Osborne and all the other organisations that have been involved so far in making these homes a reality. Many new homes are designed to be energy efficient but once built they often fail to meet their targets. The Mid Street homes don't just meet Code level 5 on paper, they genuinely achieve their targets as completed, habitable homes. As such they are a genuine breakthrough for the industry."

Nicholas Harris, Chief Executive for Raven Housing Trust comments: "Raven Housing Trust believes in delivering innovative developments that benefit our residents, the environment and creating sustainable homes for the future. The new technologies within these homes will provide our residents with lower bills for electricity, water and space heating and also lower water bills."

Richard Woodward, Director of Community Services, Tandridge District Council coments: The Council is pleased to have contributed the land towards this scheme, and to have worked in collaboration on such a ground breaking and environmentally sustainable project. We hope that this will set the standard for affordable homes throughout the South East.'

1:45pm Wednesday 23rd April 2008

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