Residents move into new ‘green’ homes

Jean and Roy Helm

The first residents of a new ‘green homes’ development on Dover Street, Hamer, have moved in.

Brighter Horizons, the charitable development subsidiary company of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) has built six two-bedroom bungalows on a disused former play area supported by £360,000 grant funding from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

Jean and Roy Helm, who have been married for 46 years, never dreamt of leaving their previous house but due to difficulties walking up and down the stairs, the doctor advised a bungalow would better suit their needs.

Mrs Helm said: “It is so quiet and peaceful in this area.

“This bungalow is ideal for us. The bedrooms are really spacious and the patio and garden is a real sun trap.”

Chief Executive of RBH Gareth Swarbick said: “The sustainable features used in these homes will reduce energy bills for the tenants - and with rising utility prices this is becoming an important element of new build.”

The bungalows have solar panels installed on the roof which warm up the hot water system. They have also been fitted with a super efficient boiler, which is used to make the water even hotter for when solar energy is not available.

Mr and Mrs Helm have already noticed they are not using as much energy, despite the fact they have only been in the house for a couple of months.

“We’ve already noticed that the solar panels are heating up the water and our first gas bill was actually a pleasant surprise,” they said.

A Rain Water Harvesting System collects rainwater and stores it in the ground then uses it to flush the toilet in the property and to supply the outside tap. The properties have been fitted with flow-restricted taps in the bathroom and the shower has a reduced flow rate. The toilet also has a dual flush. These features typically reduce water usage by approximately 30% and will help to save money.

The bungalows are also installed with a unit in the loft that ventilates the entire home, extracting moist stale air and at the same time introducing filtered fresh air. This system provides balanced ventilation which means there is no need to open windows, and so reduces noise pollution from outside and improves security. By recovering heat from the extracted air and re-introducing it in to the property, the unit actually saves heat and therefore saves money too.

Councillor Jacqui Beswick, Cabinet member for Performance and Partnerships said: “The Dover Street scheme has brought significant investment into the Rochdale Township and provided much needed new energy efficient bungalow accommodation for rent. The scheme is also an excellent example of partnership working between the Council and RBH to deliver the regeneration of a disused play area site”.