Green energy system is the touch to luxury home

By Michelle Kimpton
Posted: 2008/11/14

HOUSING developments designed to significantly reduce carbon emissions and reduce running costs for future owners are being launched at Pitlochry, in Perthshire.

Being undertaken as two separate projects, they are the first green housing initiatives to be launched by Dundee-based West Residential.

One will be at Moulin, the other at Kinnaird. The Moulin development, in the shadow of Ben V rackie, will feature five homes, all four-bedroom bungalows.

The development at Kinnaird will consist of four large detached villas, with the setting giving them the added luxury of views to Pitlochry and the Tummel Valley.

Well-planned, contemporary properties, perfect for family living, it is the eco-friendly features which make these homes so distinctive.

Thanks to a tie-up with EcoPlumb Scotland, which is also a Dundee-based company, these homes will be built with renewable energy heating systems. They will include solar panels, super-efficient air source heat pumps and underfloor heating plus a manifold plumbing system.

West Residential have stepped into the sphere of eco friendly properties as a direct response to interest from the public.

Martin Donachie, managing director of West Residential, explained: "Over the last year, we have received more and more inquiries from people seeking more environmentally friendly houses and we have happily incorporated one-off features such as log burning stoves and air source heat pumps.

"These requests are down to two factors - society's awareness of the damage fossil fuels can do to the planet but also pressure on buyers' wallets.

After all, larger houses cost a lot to heat and run, and fuel costs are ever-rising. That's why we have now decided to take the initiative and launch our first fully green development and beautiful Perthshire seems a fitting place to do it." Gary Stronach, the commercial director of Eco-Plumb Scotland, is also aware of the public's interest in environmentally friendly living.

"We specialise in the design, supply, installation and maintenance of pioneering low and zero carbon technologies, " he said.

"We are routinely being asked to install eco-friendly plumbing and heating systems from underfloor heating and low-nox condensing boilers to air and ground source heat pumps along with solar panels.

The systems in Pitlochry will genuinely save buyers money and also contribute to a cleaner, greener world." Work on these homes will begin in the New Year and the fourbedroom bungalow at Moulin has already been snapped up.

Information: 01382-226024; www.westresidential.com; 01382205277; www.eco-plumb.co.uk