Council launches its first net-zero housing scheme

The six council houses are designed to have no carbon footprint and reduce energy bills

Sheffield City Council's first net-zero social housing scheme will start to provide accommodation by the end of the month.

Six modular-constructed properties have been manufactured and assembled in the Graves Park area of the city.

The houses are designed to generate renewable energy and be energy-efficient, the local authority said, meaning they will not have a carbon footprint and tenants will pay cheaper bills.

Councillor Douglas Johnson, chair of the council's housing policy committee, said: "This is the sort of home we want to see rolled out across the city.

"It's all about the homes that people deserve - where they don't need to worry about bills."

He said both Sheffield and the wider UK were facing a "housing and homelessness crisis" because properties were becoming increasingly unaffordable for residents.

Councillor Douglas Johnson says it's "very pleasing" to see more council housing built

The local authority has more than 38,000 council houses, however it said it needed to build more to meet demand.

"This is only six houses, but it's the sort of thing we haven't seen very much of for years and years, so it's very pleasing to see that this is now happening," Johnson added.

The properties generate energy via solar panels, with a heat pump producing heating and hot water and a "heat recovery ventilation system" used to filter fresh air throughout the property without losing warmth.

On days when the properties create more electricity than they consume, excess energy is transferred to the national grid.

Ann Seipp, from Homes England, said the properties could help vulnerable tenants - such as those who have been homeless - to "move on and take stock of their lives".

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