… setting the standard for low-carbon retirement developments…
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There are ‘retirement villages’ springing up everywhere in the Sid Valley:
Sidford retirement development > third application approved – Vision Group for Sidmouth
Knowle relocation project: some reflections – Vision Group for Sidmouth
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Perhaps if any of these developments had been a little more environmentally-friendly, there might have been less hostility to them…
A developer in Cheshire is making these sorts of efforts:
Fresh consultation over new Chester retirement village at garden centre site – Cheshire Live
Here’s an overview of the project from the Arch Daily, with further designs:
London-based RCKa has designed a net-zero carbon retirement village for Chester. Located in Boughton Heath, the project was made with engineer Max Fordham to reduce carbon emissions. Nearly 15,000 square meters, the village will be made to achieve the Fitwel Standard with more than 140 apartments as an on-site, extra-care development.
RCKa Designs Net-Zero Carbon Village in the U.K. | ArchDaily
And here’s an opinion from the Architects’ Journal:
This ambitious proposal raises the bar for retirement housing, with wellbeing, sustainability and community cohesion at its heart. The site is well connected and forms part of the arrival sequence into Chester. A former garden centre is replaced with an attractive composition of six villas arranged to integrate with a verdant landscape and respond to key routes providing a new gateway into Chester…
’A net-zero carbon target has been set for the project with a high-performance building fabric and a site-wide ‘ambient loop” heat network, reducing the carbon emissions from heating and other services by nearly 50 per cent… This combined with renewable energy generated on site will lead to further reduction in emissions. A 40 per cent reduction in embodied carbon over typical residential development is targeted. All of these measures combined with post-completion monitoring of overall energy use will enable the scheme to set the standard for low-carbon retirement developments…
Located on a brownfield site that sits within the Greenbelt, the development responds to a local need for extra-care housing, and achieves an optimum number of units needed to prevent urban sprawl, but balances this with large landscaped areas…
RCKa submits plans for net-zero carbon retirement village in Chester
Picture: courtesy of Blackpoint: Gallery of RCKa Designs Net-Zero Carbon Village in the U.K. – 1