Over A Hundred Eco Homes Planned For Kelham Island

Over A Hundred Eco Homes Planned For Kelham Island

Over 100 new homes which place environmental sustainability at the forefront have been planned for Sheffield’s city centre.

The Kelham Central residential area they have proposed would add to the 250 low-carbon flats and homes available in nearby Little Kelham, but only add 38 extra parking spaces.

The reason for this, according to the developer is that the design and construction principles of the large-scale location prioritises people and demotes cars, focusing on the needs of people in the city centre.

The homes themselves, like other similar low carbon properties, will be constructed using sustainable timber framing which is then constructed with the help of scaffolders in Sheffield.

Timber framing has become more popular in recent years as a construction material as it is renewable so long as it is continually replanted, and during its growth captures carbon that is stored in the timber beams themselves.

This can, depending on the carbon dioxide emissions of the methods used to harvest and prepare the timber, make houses capture more carbon out of the atmosphere than they emit.

The developer also claimed that renewable energy that is carbon neutral would be used to power the home, although it did not specify which type.

This district of homes follows in the footsteps of a growing wave of sustainable apartment complexes and housing districts across Yorkshire, including the Climate Innovation District in Leeds.

How Can Construction Be More Sustainable?

Sustainable construction has been at the forefront of many in the industry, although there has been confusion as to what sustainability looks like, what it involves and how every part of the industry can play its part.

Sustainable or environmentally friendly construction is about considering the building’s long-term effects on the environment once it is constructed, and using materials that will not have a major climate cost during construction, once the building is complete and once it is set to be demolished.

Sustainability can be described using six core principles:

  • Conserve – Minimising the use of fossil fuels and non-renewable resources,
  • Reuse – Maximise the reuse of materials and resources,
  • Renew/Recycle – Take full advantage of renewable resources,
  • Protect Nature – Consciously construct to protect the environment,
  • Non-Toxic – Create a construction environment that encourages health and eschews non-toxic environment,
  • Quality – Focus on quality and projects that will stand the test of time.

Part of this can be solved with changes and swaps that can make a big difference, such as using renewable energy sources on construction sites instead of fossil fuels, reducing the use of materials that cause hazardous waste and the types of materials that are used.

Wood, for example, has seen a rapid re-evaluation as a construction material, as not only a potential ecological solution for construction but one that can also allow for rapid constructions of a type that evokes the kit houses of the early 20th century.

Advances in wooden construction such as cross-laminated timber have allowed for tall structures made of wood, such as Mjosa Tower in Norway, and proposed 1000ft tall towers in Tokyo and elsewhere.

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