The Crown Estate has appointed three leading UK SMEs to deliver housing demonstration projects across Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Cheshire.
The partners include gs8, igloo Regeneration and Town. The Crown said they were selected for their innovative approaches to delivering high-quality, sustainable housing.
The trio will develop 200 homes across the three sites. The Crown Estate hopes to understand how the industry can better improve the quality of homes, improve the energy security for those living in them and then explore how to deliver them at scale across the UK.
Each pilot project has ambitious targets, including achieving upfront carbon levels of less than 300kg CO₂/m² and operational energy use intensity of 35kWh/m²/year.
The developments aim for a minimum 15% biodiversity net gain, on-site renewable energy generation, and alignment with the Passivhaus standard: promoting healthy and energy-efficient living.
The three demonstration projects are designed not only to deliver exemplary homes within new communities, but also to provide valuable insights into sustainable construction and design. The lessons learned will inform future projects across the Crown Estate’s portfolio and the broader housing sector.
The three projects include gs8 delivering 50 net zero carbon homes in Wootton, Bedfordshire. Town will oversee 80 homes at Westwick Row in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, adjacent to the Crown Estate’s East Hemel site. And, igloo, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Thriving Investments, part of the Places for People group, will lead the development of 60 homes in Knutsford, Cheshire.
The housing demonstration projects aim to address challenges such as the affordability crisis and lack of innovation in housing design.
By working with SMEs, the Crown Estate aims to explore new commercial models and building capacity for smaller developers to deliver sustainable housing at scale across the country, while exploring new building materials, construction methods and technologies.
Rob Chesworth, head of strategic land at the Crown Estate, said: “The UK’s housing sector desperately needs more innovation if it is to deliver the quality, affordable homes that the current and future UK population needs.
“These housing demonstration projects are an opportunity for us to test innovative approaches to sustainable design and help us understand how to scale up across the country. By partnering with gs8, igloo and Town – all of which have proven track records in this space – we are confident that we can play a key role in addressing some of the UK’s significant housing and environmental challenges, while setting new standards for the development of thriving, sustainable communities.”
Programmes of public engagement are under way at Westwick Row and Wootton, and are expected to begin in Knutsford later this year.
Send feedback to Akanksha Soni
Follow Estates Gazette
