Sheffield announces £4.75m energy-efficient housing development

Sheffield City Council has announced it will invest in a £4.75m development of energy-efficient homes in the village of Hackenthorpe.

The development will see 36 new affordable homes built on the village’s former Weakland estate, which was demolished in the early 2000s.

The two, three and four-bedroom homes will be fitted with Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery (MVHR) systems to improve their energy efficiency.

Four new apprentices will be employed for the project by the energy and services provider ENGIE, which has been awarded the contract to build the homes.

Cllr Paul Wood, Sheffield City Council’s cabinet member for housing said: ‘It is great to breathe new life into these estates and so encouraging that they are so energy efficient. I am confident they will stand proudly at the heart of the Weakland estate.

‘I am committed to bringing forward new homes for people who need them and to provide more choice of homes in some of our local neighbourhoods.’

The Weakland estate’s original homes, built in the 1960s, suffered from persistent disrepair and structural problems.

Combined with the homes’ lack of variety in size and type, this led to questions about the estate’s sustainability and it was knocked down.

The new homes have been designed to provide more space than average, while their energy efficiency will make them more affordable to live in.

The houses’ MVHR systems will work by extracting air and re-supplying it to different rooms via a central heat exchanger, which recovers heat into the supply air.

This will reduce residents’ heating and cooling demands, helping them to keep the costs of their energy bills down.

Engie’s Regional Director Nathan Brough said: ‘We are really pleased to be involved with this exciting project.

‘It’s a pleasure to once again be working with Sheffield City Council on such a worthwhile scheme which will benefit the wider Sheffield community.’

Initial work on the Weakland estate project will start this month while the development is set to be completed by early 2020.

Photo Credit — Sheffield City Council