Specially constructed home will stand outside new Housing Community Summit event
A new public-private alliance to deliver zero-energy-bill homes in Liverpool was announced this morning outside the Housing Community Summit.
The Future Homes Liverpool City Region (LCR) plan is intended to position the region as a “centre of excellence” for low-carbon homes built using modern methods of construction (MMC).
Steve Rotheram, mayor of the combined authority for the city region, launched the new body outside a specially constructed house on the Liverpool waterfront outside the ACC conference centre.
The mayor was joined by the minister for energy consumer, Miatta Fahnbulleh, who was a keynote speaker on the first day of the conference, the first of its kind run jointly by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) and the National Housing Federation (NHF).
Rotheram said “innovative solutions like modular construction” could help the city “make a massive dent” in the prime minister’s national target of building 1.5 million homes over five years.
“As Mayor, I’m committed to overseeing an affordable housing revolution in our region – including the return of large-scale council house building,” he said.
“We’ve got the skills, the expertise, and the determination to make this a success, and we stand ready to work with the government and legislated providers to make it happen.
“Future Homes LCR shows exactly what’s possible when innovation and collaboration come together – creating a brighter, more sustainable future for everyone.”
The two-storey house showcased outside the conference centre was built in just one week at the Starship Group’s factory in Wirral Waters and installed within a few days.
This type of three-bedroom family home, which is equipped with solar panels, a heat pump and a battery, would normally come with a 10-year guarantee from Octopus Energy, ensuring residents will not receive any energy bills for 10 years.
Zero-energy-bill homes such as this have already been built across the country, but are mostly concentrated in the south of England.
The first of its kind in the north was built last year in Bromborough, a town which lies within the city region
A Starship-built development of 13 modular homes is already underway in Wallasey on the Wirral.
The scheme, known as Greenleas, is supported by £195,000 from the Liverpool City Region Brownfield Land Fund and Homes England.
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The Future Homes LCR scheme aims to accelerate the development of these housing types in the region, bringing together local experts in modular housing construction and national suppliers to support councils and social housing providers.
Alongside the combined authority, a range of businesses are involved in the partnership, including Openwall Offsite, Samo, Sipco, Sticx, Treehouse MMC, Hemsec, Starship, Octopus, and JJ Smith.
It hopes to help the region meet its target of building 83,000 new homes by 2040, as outlined in the Combined Authority’s Spatial Development Strategy.
The combined authority wants to use modular building techniques to bring new homes to the 700 brownfield sites in the city region, which have the potential to accommodate 42,000 homes.
Kate Henderson, chief executive of the NHF, said she was “honoured” to have the initiative launched at the first ever Housing Community Summit, which brings together over 2,500 housing professionals, tenants and politicians.
The CIH’s chief, Gavin Smart, also welcomed the Future Homes LCR’s “commitment to delivering more housing” and said embracing MMC highlighted how building new homes can “happen at pace”.
The show home outside the ACC will provide a backdrop to the conference this week and will remain in place until the end of the Labour Party conference later this month.
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