Where living is greener

By Andrea Watson
Posted: 2008/05/12

ECO-towns are making the headlines increasingly often and reliable information can be hard to find.

But website whatgreenhome.com, created by property journalist Gordon Miller less than a year ago, can help. This minnow has grown up quickly and now reviews and rates environmentally friendly properties in 18 countries worldwide, including the UK.

The site is also a helpful source of news, opinion and comment on sustainable development worldwide and it helps you find environmental, ethical and recycled products and gifts.

Among the featured schemes in Britain is Market Quarter in Chippenham, Wiltshire, an attractive collection of 256 apartments and houses by Linden Homes rated 'excellent' under the Ecohomes system.

Environmental features include high levels of insulation, low-voltage lighting, dual-flush toilets and aerated taps, external rainwater harvesting systems and streets with trafficcalming measures. Another feature is the use of 'living walls', which were installed in January.

Mr Miller said: "Living walls, where plants literally grow on the external walls, are an innovative eco-feature. It's attractive but also practical as it harvests rainwater, preventing excessive run-off."

Living walls have similar benefits to green roofs, helping minimise dust, insulate and reduce the ambient temperatures by at least two degrees centigrade on hot summer days, making the homes cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

Each panel is around 10 metres high and has five different types of native European sedum plants, providing a home for wildlife and an attractive environment.

The Bridge, located next to the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge in Dartford, Kent, another listed scheme, is the first of the major regeneration schemes planned for the Thames Gateway.

Wayne Hemingway is among the leading lights behind The Bridge, which it is hoped will become a sustainable community attracting both people who want to live there as well as businesses.

The development is set to transform 264 acres of a genuine brownfield site that was once an industrial wasteland into a new community with contemporary European-style designed houses.

All of the homes will achieve a 'good' Ecohomes rating. The first phase includes 235 apartments and houses.

Abroad, few developments in the Caribbean have gone to such lengths to preserve the environment as Eden Caribe in the Dominican Republic. The philosophy that guides this project is to let nature and vegetation set the rules. No old trees were cut down to prepare the site, and windfall timber is used wherever possible.

Construction is by hand, using no machinery, to minimise the environmental impact.
Power is mostly from renewables - solar and wind.

Mr Miller said: "Eden Caribe is one of the most sustainable developments communities I've some across.

The environmental ethos is impressive and the attention to detail across every aspect of the development reassuringly comprehensive."

INFORMATION:
www. whatgreenhome. com