The £3.5 Million building services engineering contract for Greenhaus, the north of England’s pioneering development of 96 sustainable, affordable, Passivhaus-accredited apartments, has been awarded to Ameon by lead contractor, Eric Wright Construction.
Greenhaus, located on Chapel Street in Salford is a component of The English Cities Fund – a strategic joint venture between nationwide placemaker, Muse, Legal and General and Homes England – 50-acre Salford Central regeneration and brings eco-apartments for the first time to the affordable housing sector. They will be built to Passivhaus standards, offering residents significantly reduced energy consumption of around 90%, at a time when home energy costs at their highest ever level.
Our contract includes design and installation of all mechanical and electrical services for the nine-storey development of one and two-bed apartments, together with a ground floor commercial unit, public spaces and an external residents’ car parking area. A key part of the installation – in a building constructed to 0.6 air permeability, rather than the conventional 5.0 – will be enhanced Passivhaus mechanical ventilation heat recovery systems, which will provide fresh air into each apartment.
Unusually for apartments, each will have its own air source heat pump – providing domestic hot and cold water services – and in addition to the enhanced water heaters, radial microbore pipework will decrease the heat losses seen in conventional piping infrastructure.
The Greenhaus development will help Salford towards its pledge to be a carbon neutral city by 2038.
Commenting on the contract gain, managing director, Robin Lawson said: “As one of the earliest adopters of low carbon technologies in the building services sectors, almost two decades ago, it is particularly fitting for us to be involved in this ground-breaking Passivhaus development.
“At a time when energy conservation is high on the agenda, it is encouraging to see such energy efficient homes, built to the highest specification, being developed for the first time for the affordable housing sector. It is a move that is testament to the foresight of both Muse and Salford City Council.”
James Eager, director at Eric Wright Construction, continued: “This project demonstrates our continued partnership with ECF and Ameon and from a wider company perspective, it also underlines our ongoing commitment to achieving net zero carbon by 2030. Over at Salford University, for example, we are proud to be working in partnership with Salford University Energy House 2.0 project which is the ‘world’s-first’ all-weather research centre and will play a key role in accelerating the road to net-zero and alleviating fuel poverty.”
