Plans submitted for Passivhaus council homes in Cambridge

A joint venture between a Cambridge council and housebuilder Hill has submitted planning for 18 homes built to Passivhaus standard as the first part of a pilot of low-carbon building in the city.

The Cambridge Investment Partnership has submitted two separate applications for timber-frame council homes designed by architect Pollard Thomas Edwards for sites on Fen Road and Ditton Fields.

The Cambridge Investment Partnership said the offsite timber frame construction will provide the homes with thick, highly insulated walls allowing gas-free heating.

The Fen Road site in East Chesterton, currently vacant, will provide 12 of the planned homes, with the remaining six at Ditton Fields. The schemes will include electric car charging points, secure cycle parking provision and tree planting.

Tom Hill, regional director of Hill said the firm was delighted to be submitting its first Passivhaus schemes. “As well as providing these low-carbon homes, all our developments are now gas free, five years ahead of the government’s targets with high levels of insulation and are built in accordance with the Cambridge Sustainable Housing Design Guide.”

Cambridge council said the low-carbon homes were part of its commitment to tackling the climate emergency.

The news comes after Stirling Prize-winning architect Mikhail Riches last week won planning for 52 Passivhaus council homes to be built offsite for a development in north Somerset.