Deep in the heart of Kent, Berkeley Homes has been experimenting with something that manages to be both fun and ecofriendly, and it’s stopping passers-by in their tracks.
It’s hard to miss. Holborough is being built in a former chalk quarry near Maidstone, but it looks like no ordinary development. There are no dull town houses, no blocks of anonymous flats: this place is more like a holiday camp. With its brightly coloured clapboard and open lawns, this is Cape Cod meets Disney World.
The look is something Berkeley hit on almost by accident last year, when its nearby Leybourne Lakes development of New England-style homes was a surprise success. It drew 40% of its buyers from the south London suburbs, attracted as much by the American feel as by the low entry prices.
But it’s not just the look of Holborough that is grabbing attention. In another bold move, Berkeley is the first of Britain’s large housebuilders to embrace Super E timber-frame technology — houses built to Super E specifications are airtight, and fitted with an air filtration system to reduce dust, and heat-exchange technology to minimise heat loss. It’s easy to see why Berkeley chose to try this: because the tight-fitting wall panels are made to order in Canada and shipped over, build times and costs are greatly reduced. That the system’s ecofriendly nature appeals to the public is a bonus.
“It’s good for the environment, which makes people feel good about themselves,” says Pat Nightingale, head of sales and marketing at Berkeley Homes Southeast London. “It’s also cheaper to run than ordinary heating, you don’t get those odd hot spots that you can get in some new homes, and because it filters the air, it’s healthy.”
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Super E is an initiative backed by the Canadian government to help Canadian makers of energy- efficient housing materials to export their products. Jeff Culp runs the Super E office in Woodstock, Ontario.
“Thirty per cent of greenhouse gases are caused by our homes,” he says. “Up to 50% of heat loss in a house can be through air leakage. Where a normal house might have 10-15 air changes an hour, a Super E house has just 1.5.”
Another advantage is that the UK government is keen to encourage modern methods of construction (MMC). All social housing must be MMC, and the system’s pre-engineered wall panels qualify. “There is still caution among the largest builders in the UK,” says Culp, “but now Berkeley is doing it, I am pretty sure all the others will be watching.”
The first Super E house was imported to Britain in 2001. Last year, somewhere between 500 and 1,000 were built here. Culp hopes that figure will quadruple next year. All 147 homes in the first phase of this seven-year, 1,000-home project will be built with the system. Berkeley has yet to decide whether it will continue with it. It is proud, though, of its sustainability and regeneration strategy.
“The transformation of this brownfield site into a vibrant new community is a textbook example of how regeneration can be undertaken in a rural commuter location to meet the demand for homes in the southeast,” says Tony Pidgley, managing director of the Berkeley Group.
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Building land is hard to come by in Kent, and the 80-acre Holborough quarry is one of the county’s three strategic sites earmarked by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to provide homes for London commuters. It’s not the prettiest part of Kent — the cement industry was born here, and the area boasts what is, reputedly, the largest electricity pylon in the world, plus a magnificent War of the Worlds march of hundreds of smaller pylons, all lining up to cross the River Medway — but it has fast roads, making the garden of England and the Bluewater shopping centre a short drive away.
Berkeley is keen to plug the transport links: it’s handy for the M2, M25 and M20 and 15 minutes’ drive from Ebbsfleet station — opening next year — from where trains will take about 15 minutes to London St Pancras, and two hours, 20 minutes to Paris.
One Holborough spokesman gets quite carried away with enthusiasm for the journey times and holiday-camp ambience: “Londoners who take weekend breaks can move here, and have weekends at home,” he says. And they probably will.
Two-bed flats from £156,950 and two-bed houses from £174,950; Berkeley Homes, 01634 244 666, www.berkeleyhomes.co.uk
Super E, www.super-e.com