Affordable carbon zero eco-homes in construction in Abingdon, Oxfordshire

Sovereign Housing Association’s latest development will see nine affordable carbon-zero homes built in Abingdon that come straight from the factory floor.

The stylish homes are set in a rural location at Springfield Meadows in Longworth, and are part of 25 being built using Greencore Construction’s carbon zero construction methods.

As the housing sector celebrates Rural Housing Week, the development is testament to Sovereign’s commitment to building more homes and better places in rural settings.

Beautiful and spacious, the homes carry the usual Sovereign hallmark for quality – but it’s what lies underneath that marks them out as a little bit different as these modular homes are built in a factory using closed panel walls and a hemp and lime mix insulation – an affordable eco design for the carbon zero home for its lifetime.

Once they leave the factory they’re moved on-site for construction.

Construction at Springfield Meadow started in May 2019 and residents have already started moving into their affordable homes. Of the 25 homes at the development, the nine affordable Sovereign homes will consist of six affordable rent and three shared ownership homes.

Alex Brooks, Development Manager, Sovereign, said, ‘Springfield Meadows has been granted the One Planet Living Global Leader Status by specialist environmental charity, Bioregional, who provide sustainability consultancy to help people live more sustainably.”

“This is Sovereign’s second eco-development using this type of construction, third for Greencore, and the second to achieve One Planet Living status. Our first was Kings Lane in Longcot, Oxfordshire. Following on from the success of Kings Lane, we started this development in Longworth.’

‘We’re so proud of our work here at Springfield Meadows. Building in a rural location means that we need good quality design and manufacture to design for the future.

“We’ve been able to build quality affordable homes here with high environmental performance and lower running costs for our residents.”  

Ian Pritchett, Managing Director, Greencore Construction said, ‘A normal house is responsible for around 50-60 tonnes of carbon in the construction phase, our homes are at, or very close to, carbon zero.’

“A normal home will emit around five tonnes of carbon a year, using this construction, these homes at Springfield Meadows will be carbon zero.

“If we start building things with bio-based materials that perform better and have low carbon footprints we can start to make a serious difference to climate change.”