Sustainable homes gain political support

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An innovative home-building scheme aimed at increasing healthy living and sustainability has been discussed in Parliament.

The Active House project, promoted in a parliamentary reception as part of an ongoing two-year campaign by VELUX, was described as an "investment of mind, thought and process".

Speaking in the Strangers' Dining Room, Kevin Brennan, head of sustainability at VELUX, outlined the thinking behind Active House.

"We believe an Active House is one that strikes a balance between energy reduction and the rights of humans to live in a healthy indoor environment," Brennan said.

Unlike other home sustainability schemes that focused purely on energy efficiency, Brennan emphasised that Active House was equally concerned with increasing 'liveability' for its inhabitants.

He said: "A house, like any building, should provide more than just shelter. If you use energy reduction as the only driver, there is the risk that you will end up with a legacy of empty buildings – that is what we all want to avoid."

"Any house must have people at the heart. If people move into a sustainable house and it doesn't work, it is a failure," he continued.

Also speaking at the reception was the recently elected Conservative MP for South Derbyshire, Heather Wheeler.

Wheeler, pointing to two decades of experience in local government, outlined the coalition's proposals for planning reform.

Claiming the forthcoming Localism Bill would take community planning "back to the drawing board", Wheeler informed the reception attendees of expected policy changes.

She said: "There will be a complete change in how communities will be planned in the next few years. Planning will be turned on its head and this is truly very exciting."

Highlighting the work carried out on the Active House project so far was Ben Derbyshire, the managing director of HTA Architects, the company responsible for the design of the homes.

Derbyshire welcomed the challenge of providing liveable houses that managed to meet energy-efficient criteria, and observed that expectations were not just confined to the energy and construction industries.

"We have been looking, for the last 30 years, for the consumer pull to balance the legislative push – and the public now appear to be buying into eco-homes," he noted.

The Active House reception was held on Tuesday 30th November in association with Dods, The House Magazine and ePolitix.com.