Norwich & Peterborough’s £5,000 boost for eco-builds

In just eight years’ time all new homes will have to be “carbon neutral” – so anyone planning to build their own home should wise up to eco features now!

There are many good reasons why it is important to beat this Government deadline – not least because it will help reduce the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions – but today’s “eco-builders” could also bag themselves a £5,000 prize for constructing a home that has a positive effect on the environment.

Norwich and Peterborough Building Society (N&P) is offering this cash reward as the prize in its annual Eco Self-Build competition, which is now in its sixth year.

N&P’s competition is open to all home-owners (not just N& P mortgage customers) who have undertaken an “eco self-build”. The winner will be the entrant whose property has, in the opinion of the judges, a most positive impact on the environment. The prize is a super £5,000 cash.

As a green mortgage lender, and a carbon neutral business itself, N& P has long been championing the need for more people to make eco features a priority in the construction of their new home.

Latest figures released by the Government show the nation’s houses are currently responsible for producing 27% of the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions each year – so it is vital house builders take responsibility for cutting carbon wherever they can.

There are many energy-efficient features that can be incorporated into a brand new home including:

Building on a “brownfield” site (thereby not building on virgin countryside)
Water recycling systems that re-use household water
Super-efficient insulation and/or double-glazing
Energy-saving central heating/water heating systems

Last year’s winners, a family from East Sussex with eight children, built their striking modern design home on a plot that most people would reject as impossible to build on.

Aaron and Raphaella Curtis bought a plot on a brownfield site next to a partially demolished viaduct in Lewes for £60,000. They saw the potential where others didn’t, and went on use local labour and materials in the creation of their five-bedroom home, which is currently up for sale for an impressive £865,000.

Aaron said: “When N&P asked why we had opted for an eco-friendly design, I replied: Why not?! This was a huge opportunity to undertake a unique project. We’ve created an environmentally-friendly, and fun, living space on a brownfield site using local labour and materials.”

Richard Lloyd, managing director of N&P’s surveying arm Hockleys, who will be co-judging this year’s competition, said: “The diversity and standard of entries last year was exceptional, proving that eco-building is developing beyond a purist lifestyle choice to a real alternative to the traditional brick and block self-build.

“Last year’s winner combined very firm eco principles with innovation and determination to build on a site that the vast majority of people would reject as being unsuitable or too difficult. I am looking forward to seeing how the standard of entries develops in this year’s competition.”

N&P has offered “green” mortgages since 1998. Today, for every “green” mortgage taken out, N& P plants 40 trees which “off-set” the equivalent of an average property’s harmful “greenhouse” emissions for five years. The planting is arranged by The CarbonNeutral Company, originally known as Future Forests, which was formed in 1989 to raise awareness of how forests mitigate the build-up of CO2. It does this by planting and maintaining forests, measuring carbon uptake, and developing “carbon management” programmes.