Life in the Slo lane

By Gordon Miller
Posted: 2008/07/04

AN international campaign dedicated to slow living has come to the UK. The Slow Food movement started in Italy when people reacted against the opening of McDonald's in Rome.

The manifesto they issued inspired several Italian towns to join to promote not just slow food but a whole set of sustainable principles that follow, including healthier living, support for local culture and rejection of globalisation.

Now some of these same principles have been given an architectural twist at Slo (Simple Living Opportunities) in South Chase, Newhall, Harlow, on the Essex and Hertfordshire border.

Slo has been conceived by architects Proctor and Matthews as a place to relax and take time to appreciate the simple aspects of home life.

Stephen Proctor of Proctor and Matthews, said: "A Slo home looks for the antidote to the fast pace of 21st-century life. Some of the properties have an attractive L-shaped 'courtyard design' with a covered open terrace - thus extending the living space, breaking the boundaries between the external and internal environments, and providing al fresco lifestyle options not normally found in houses of this price."

Slo homes for sale at South Chase, which feature a selection of terraced, semi-detached and detached houses, are priced from £269,000 for a two-bed house, £355,000 for three beds and £389,000 for four.

The initiatives undertaken to provide a more considered way of life are extended to environmental concerns too.

A range of eco-friendly measures, such as high-performance thermal insulation, reduced water wastage and reduced pollution during building, thanks to off-site construction, have been introduced.

In a selection of homes, ground source heat-pump and other renewable energy technologies have been incorporated, significantly reducing the heating and hot water costs over an annual cycle to around £250 per year for a typical two-bedroom house.

Additionally clever and extensive use of glass at the homes has the dual benefit of providing passive solar gain (which reduces the need for heating and electrical lighting) and ensuring they look contemporary and stylish too - as do all homes on the larger Newhall development.

Newhall, conceived by brothers Jon and William Moen, is three miles from Harlow and has a remit to create architecturally stimulating homes while protecting the environment and enhancing the wellbeing of residents.

The combination has proved a winner with architect Ron Smith and his wife Mariette, who have moved from Muswell Hill, London. Despite continuing to run his practice in Shoreditch, London, Mr Smith could not be happier.

He said: "The architecture is excellent, and so is the general arrangement. We like that it has open spaces and doesn't feel all crammed together.

"When I come home from London in the evening it just lifts the spirits to see it all."

INFORMATION:
Slo: 01279 416660/ www. sloliving. co. uk

Newhall: 01279 432331/ www. newhallproject. co. uk

For details of eco-homes for sale in the UK, visit www. whatgreenhome. com