The first commercially produced totally sustainable houses to be built by Wave Homes have won the approval of deputy prime minister John Prescott.
Wave Homes is a joint partnership between The Riverside Group, the UK’s fourth largest regional social landlord (RSL), and housing development consultancy Avebury International. Its first development of around 550 houses is underway at Milton Keynes for Bedford Pilgrims Housing Association.
Wave Homes designs, supplies and delivers off-site manufactured timber frame homes at an affordable cost which compares favourably with traditional build.
Currently the houses are being manufactured at Pattrick and Thompsons Ltd’s factory at King’s Lynn. However, operations manager Stuart Gee said: “Our plan is to be building thousands of units all over the UK, based upon using local knowledge and existing technology.”
This, he said, could involve partnerships with existing manufacturers, such as those making pallets or roof trusses, who had the capacity to manufacture Wave’s ecohomes.
Mr Gee said: “We are looking for people with the appropriate skills and space that we can bring our systems into.”
This dovetailing, he said, was another way of keeping costs down – a factor not normally associated with modern methods of construction.
Mr Gee said the homes, which have been developed over seven years, were made entirely of sustainable parts, can be finished in two days and attract fuel bills as low as £100 per year.
