Brown to make eco housing pledge

Gordon Brown is due to pledge five new "eco towns" in a bid to help thousands of people onto the property ladder, as he continues his leadership campaign.

The chancellor is expected to announce the construction of up to 100,000 sustainable homes across the country.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6650639.stm

It would be cool if they were all like the Bedzed development.

[hoon]

Interesting article on the BBC site about this, comparing this pledge by Brown to Garden Cities of Tomorrow, published in 1902.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6654519.stm

[bruce]

Check out this development designed by Will Alsop. This redevelopment of some ratty old docklands in Middlesbrough into housing, hotel, office and retail uses will be the largest carbon free development in the UK. it is being built by Bioregional Quintain, a joint venture between the cutting edge green development nonprofit that built BedZED, and a big UK property developer.

Bioregional Quintain builds according to the ten principles of "one planet living" developed with the WWF:

• Zero Carbon
• Zero Waste
• Sustainable Transport
• Local and Sustainable Materials
• Local and Sustainable Food
• Sustainable Water
• Natural Habitats and Wildlife
• Culture and Heritage
• Equity and Fair Trade
• Health and Happiness



http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com...upload_id=1002

http://society.guardian.co.uk/gall/0,,1267683,00.html

[include]

A new house design that will be the first to meet the environmental standards all new UK homes must achieve by 2016 is being unveiled later.

Kingspan Off-Site's Lighthouse design is the first to achieve level six of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6735715.stm

[LMagic007]

"If you build it, They will come" Field of Dreams. Certainly this is the direction we want to head in, obviously with many refinements along the way.

[debs]

See more photos are info here:

http://www.metaefficient.com/archive...ons-house.html

They actually look alright, not half as bad as I imagined they'd look.

This is great, but I don't get how this particular house gets named 'the first zero emission home'.

Individual homes powered by huge photo voltaic arrays are all over the place with a net gain in electricity. Breaking even is not that big of a deal.

[LMagic007]

Yes I think that's just an attention grabber ! but with a good cause. I can guess that perhaps the Press added the word "first" for embellishment and attention grabbing. But then perhaps not, as politicians like to do the same thing.