Home | About us | News | Publications | Who’s who | Jobs | Locations | Accessibility

The first completed housing development by Hab Oakus - the partnership between Kevin McCloud's company Hab and housing group GreenSquare - is the focus of a new Channel 4 documentary series that begins on 8 December.

The Triangle, a high-quality sustainable 42-home development in Swindon, features in the two-part series 'Kevin's Grand Design' which follows Kevin McCloud who, fed up with the poor quality of Britain's identikit new houses, aims to prove that it shouldn't cost any more to build places that are a lot nicer to live in and can help us live happier, more sociable lives. The programmes are part of Channel 4's Great British Property Scandal season.

Hab Oakus developments are designed to be respectful towards the environment and easy and cheap to run. But, just as importantly, the developer aims to create developments that allow people to live more environmentally-friendly and fulfilling lives: to walk or cycle rather than drive; to share lifts or join a car club; to grow their own food; and to co-exist happily with natural habitats, wildlife, and, above all, with their neighbours and the community as a whole.

The award-winning designs for the project are by Glenn Howells Architects with landscape architects Studio Engleback. Other key members of the project delivery team included build contractors Willmott Dixon Housing, environmental engineers Max Fordham, engineers Curtins, cost consultants DBK, GOCO car club, Carnego Systems, and Lime Technology.

The development was supported with an investment of around £2.5 million from the Homes and Communities Agency and backed by £840,000 investment from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Low Carbon Investment Fund because of its use of environmentally-sustainable materials.

Kevin McCloud said: “We've almost completed the project now and overall I'm quietly very pleased. It's been a struggle to get here because handovers were late and we were juggling new residents with contractors over the summer. So I have to thank all our tenants and owners on the scheme for their forbearance this year.

“The public areas are now pretty well complete and I'm looking forward to seeing the wild flowers emerge next summer. I'm also looking forward to seeing how productive the polytunnels, veg beds and edible hedgerows are. Soon we'll have our Shimmy home information systems up and running and be able to talk to residents about how they take ownership of the scheme forward.

“What's great for us at Hab is that our partner, GreenSquare, is there for the long haul as community manager, offering support for what is going to be an interesting ride for us all. We've laid down some pretty fertile ground for a community to flourish and I really hope it does.”

GreenSquare chief executive David Ashmore said: “We're delighted to have completed our first Hab Oakus development and wish the residents at The Triangle a happy and comfortable future in their new homes. It's been great learning with, and from, Kevin and his team and the new residents."

Homes at The Triangle are designed to be super insulated – naturally warm in winter and cool in summer – and have a range of features that do make them different from more ‘traditional’ homes including: air sourced heat pump; rain water harvesting and low water usage bathroom fittings; stack effect ventilation with chimney-style ventilation cowls; sheep’s wool loft insulation; triple glazed windows; bicycle storage built in to the front canopy of each house; and walls built from a hemp and lime wall thermal walling system that absorbs CO2 in its manufacture.

Channel 4's Great British Property Scandal season investigates some of the issues that have contributed to the current housing crisis and speaks to a broad range of the people affected by it. The season highlights that while almost two million British families are currently on the waiting lists for social housing, one million properties lie empty across the UK, even though many cost huge amounts to keep secure.

See more details and photographs at www.haboakus.co.uk/triangle

[published online 6/12/11]