Swindon’s long awaited eco-housing project off Northern Road, Rodbourne was launched on 27 May when Grant Shapps MP, the new Minister of State for Housing & Local Government joined Kevin McCloud and environmentalist Jonathon Porritt.

Rather than the traditional ‘turning of the sod’, the start-on-site ceremony included a demonstration by Kevin McCloud – ably assisted by the Housing Minister – of Tradical Hemcrete, which is being used for the walls of the new homes at The Triangle.

Tradical Hemcrete is a hemp and lime wall thermal walling system that absorbs CO2 in its manufacture and so has negative embodied CO2. For a typical wall section, the material will have 130kg CO2/m2 less than traditional brick and block.

The minister said that the event was his first opportunity to get out of the office since the new coalition government was established and admitted surprise that he would be involved in seeing a form of cannabis being used as a building material. The Minister is pictured helping Kevin McCloud form a wall from Hemcrete

The Triangle, a 42-home development, is the first scheme by Hab Oakus, the joint venture between Kevin McCloud’s development company, Hab, and housing group GreenSquare. The houses will be built to Code 4 in the Code for Sustainable Homes with several being constructed to Code 5 level.

Paul King, chief executive of the UK Green Building Council, David Ashmore, chief executive of GreenSquare, and John Frankiewicz, chief executive of Willmott Dixon, also took part in the event.

Grant Shapps said: “I know that projects like the one we’re starting off today are really important because they lead the way, they show what’s possible, they give a sense of ambition. I have to say that we’re very grateful to everyone involved in this incredible project for getting it going, because you are showing the way, providing leadership and I know this is going to be an enormous success.”

Kevin McCloud said: “As our first project to start on site, the Triangle is particularly special to us. It’s the distillation of an awful lot of hard work, discussion, research, and ideas. And, of course, it’s very much a team effort. Particular credit is due to our development partner, GreenSquare. As an unusually forward-thinking housing association group, its aspirations and ethos are very much in tune with our own at Hab.

“First-rate architecture and landscape design are absolutely key to creating wonderful places to live, but the standard of construction and the calibre of components and materials are fundamental too. We have worked long and hard to identify consultants, contractors, manufacturers, and suppliers who share our quest for quality and concern for the environment. I am absolutely confident that this team will ensure our vision is translated into a project of real and lasting worth.”

David Ashmore said: “There is a massive challenge to provide the new homes that millions of households in this country urgently require and we want to work with Government to find yet more creative ways to maintain and improve the supply of good quality environmentally-sustainable new homes.  

“The housing association sector has demonstrated its ability to deliver and to innovate and, perhaps most importantly, to achieve many other things beyond bricks and mortar – improving people’s life chances and wellbeing through training and employment initiatives, for example, and all kinds of community development initiatives. The scheme at the Triangle requires a minimum of 12 jobs to made available to local people and at least 4 apprenticeships.”  

The Triangle scheme is being built by contractors Willmott Dixon Housing on the site of a former caravan park and plant nursery just off Swindon’s Northern Road; it has been designed by Glenn Howells Architects and landscape architects Studio Engleback working with environmental engineers Max Fordham, engineers Curtins, and cost consultants DBK.

Tags: swindon hab hab oakus kevin mccloud grant shapps