Tickled pink: Exeter families to move into colourful new homes

Six new brightly coloured council homes set to providing sustainable and low energy housing for some of Exeter’s most vulnerable families.

New eco-friendly homes at Reed Walk, Newport Road will house six local families who have been waiting for a suitable place to live on Exeter’s Housing Register. The new three-bedroom homes, including one fully wheelchair accessible property, were completed in September.

The houses are noticeable due to their bright colouring, which were carefully developed to reflect typical natural building materials of the Exeter area like Devon sandstone, blue lias, green marble, clay brick and heavitree stone. These rented houses will provide comfortable living space for families to enjoy, and while packed with high-tech features, these homes are easy to use and live in.

The buildings are designed to be ecological, healthy, low energy and affordable for tenants. Built to the Passive House standard - a benchmark for low energy homes - each property contains a host of clever methods of saving energy, including triple glazing and a mechanical ventilation and heat recovery system.

Rainwater collection and low water use fittings on all bathrooms and kitchens will reduce water usage in the homes by up to 60% and the Passive House standard can result in heating bills 90% less than those of a standard house.

Cllr Rob Hannaford, Lead Councillor for Housing Revenue Account, said: “These new houses, along with the recently completed sites at Silverberry and Barberry Close, are part of a wider project designed to make the most of underused sites in Exeter. These new homes are now providing much needed accommodation for families on our Housing Register.”

Cllr Sutton, Lead Councillor for City Development said: “These new homes are sustainable, environmentally sound and offer great energy-saving features for the families living in them. But they are also providing a space for a strong community spirit to grow and develop, that will set these families in good stead in the future. Each child in these now homes can have a brighter future, safe in the knowledge that they have a consistent space to call home.”