#RuralHousingWeek 2023 – ‘Building a better future for rural communities.’
As part of the National Housing Federation’s #RuralHousingWeek, we are delighted to announce that South Lakes Housing have been highly commended at the recent Unlock Net Zero awards in Manchester for our #Passivhaus Affordable Housing development at Lune Walk, Halton.
The judges commendation said : “An inspiring ambitious project which demonstrates a real mix of expertise, enthusiasm and collaborative willingness. South Lakes Housing has set a high bar, proving that housing providers of any size can answer the call to net zero. The judges want to commend this entry because it demonstrates that high quality, energy efficient, warm, safe comfortable homes can also be affordable homes.“
The recently completed sustainable development is a collaboration between South Lakes Housing / Tyson Construction / Lune Valley Community Land Trust.
This year, the theme for the annual National Housing Federation’s Rural Housing Week (between 3rd – 7th July 2023) is ‘building a better future for rural communities’.
Rural Housing Week highlights the important work that housing associations do in rural communities to help address some of the challenges that local people may face when living in a rural area (e.g. high house prices, a shortage of affordable homes to rent, increasing levels of second home ownership and holiday lets). Rural housing associations like South Lakes Housing not only deliver homes, but also services that are crucial to supporting their residents. The tailored development of rural affordable homes is essential for prosperous communities and has the potential to make an enormous contribution to the future of rural lives across the country and contribute to levelling up.
A year ago, South Lakes Housing (SLH) invited Tim Farron MP to visit their rural development at Boon Town in the market town of Burton-in-Kendal to celebrate Rural Housing Week. The development has since been completed delivering 28 new homes consisting of a mix of social rent and shared ownership homes to help ensure rural communities remain sustainable for local people. The £4m project was funded by SLH and Homes England and was delivered by SLH in partnership with Elliott Associates, SLDC, Tyson Construction, IDPartnerships, Ward Hadaway and R G Parkins.
The homes all have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of A, as they have improved fabric insulation combined with low carbon technology (Solar Panels and Battery Storage). This will reduce the carbon footprint of the homes and reduce the running costs for tenants and homeowners making them affordable to heat.
John Burt Chair of the Development Committee at South Lakes Housing said, ‘We feel strongly about supporting rural communities, building and managing quality affordable rural homes that mean people with a connection to the area can live in the communities where they grew up. We need to level up our rural communities, and there is no better way to do this than by building affordable homes. Affordable rural housing has long been a part of SLH’s DNA, and we continue to look for opportunities to ease the rural housing crisis & improve the sustainability of rural communities’.
To find out more about other new rural housing initiatives by South Lakes Housing in your local community visit https://www.southlakeshousing.co.uk/development/.
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