New eco homes were officially opened today on the Apley estate near Bridgnorth and with all the latest technology it should only cost around £300 a year in bills.
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00:00Okay, so happy new home John. Happy new home. Happy new home and absolutely brilliant. Delighted to do this.
00:09Yay!
00:11Yay! Well done.
00:13Brilliant.
00:14John, how do you do sir?
00:16I'm alright.
00:17And you're living in one of these rather special houses. We'll find out a bit more off Graham exactly the fabric of the building and what makes it special.
00:26But how do you feel to be in one of these? It's quite nice, isn't it?
00:31Happy. Yeah. Yeah. Fortunately, I presume, you know, I mean, because this time last year I wasn't even thinking of moving out.
00:39Yeah. So you're at the forefront of technology here.
00:44And have you noticed, you know, like particularly that it's good keeping the heat in. I mean, we've got the triple glazed windows and so on.
00:51Have you noticed it seems to be a very efficient house?
00:54Absolutely efficient. Yeah. I mean, when we had those few warm days in the summer, I mean, you had to have a window open because it was 25 degrees plus in here.
01:04Yeah. Yeah. So you just have to have a little bit of air movement. Yeah. Through the house.
01:09Cool. And it's a two bed. It's two bed. You've got your little space outside at the back for your shed for your man cave as they call it.
01:19Where were you living before then, John? Was it an old house? Was it kind of a very old house?
01:23Was it? Yeah. And what did you what were you noticing?
01:28I mean, I guess the comparison must be crazy then and it's totally turned.
01:33This is, you know, it's 180, you know, from from cold floors to warm floors, as you might say.
01:40Yeah. And you've signed up to a scheme living here. You're letting strangers like me wander around your house.
01:49What's what's the specifics of that then, John? What's all that about? In what respect?
01:54So you you basically it's like an open house for people that want to learn about the technologies of these new builds. Is that how it works?
02:01That's right. Yes. Yeah. And I'm presuming is that because you're passionate to spread the word?
02:07Is that the idea behind it? Not so much, but just, you know, I mean, it's a stepping stone for my son to be running.
02:14Just he's just thinking of moving into a bigger house in Cornwall.
02:18OK, yeah. Possibly doing what's what's here there.
02:22Yeah. But we'll wait and see on that one. But so what I mean.
02:26So what you're saying is your son's using you as a guinea pig.
02:30So your son's been down and seen this one? No, not yet. Oh, not yet.
02:34Oh, yeah. No, no. Not that son anyway. The other son has. Yeah.
02:37Yeah. I'm privileged then I'm getting a sneaky peek before him, aren't I?
02:40Yeah. Both sets of houses are on different systems as well.
02:46Different systems? Yes. My air source pump is in that cupboard.
02:50OK. Yeah. With the other two houses, it's outside the building.
02:55Oh, wow. OK. So it's been monitored to find out which is the best or not.
03:01Interesting. Yeah. So there's a bit of experimentation going on, literally.
03:04Interesting. Next door, there is equipment to do the monitoring of these two houses.
03:11Fantastic. Well, thank you for inviting us in, Joe. Thank you.
03:15Gavin Hamilton of the Appley Estate. How are you, sir? Very well, thank you.
03:19Some gorgeous looking houses behind you here that form part of the estate now.
03:23Initially, I thought they were old houses that had been repointed,
03:26but they're brand spanking new, aren't they?
03:28Well, they are, and they've been built to look in keeping with the village
03:31because it's a conservation area. Yeah.
03:33Obviously, we're very keen to make sure anything we build is high quality
03:38and in keeping with the village.
03:40So the Appley Estate, a historic estate, but very much eyes to the future, really,
03:44with the technology that's put into these houses.
03:46Well, exactly. These houses are passive houses,
03:48so therefore there's absolutely minimal heating and power bills.
03:52Yeah. And they still stay very warm.
03:54So we'll go to Graham, Estate Manager, next.
03:57So what's special about this house, Graham?
04:00I've got a house that was built 40, 45 years ago.
04:03What's the different technology that we're getting into these?
04:06So they're built with very, very high insulation standards.
04:09They have air source heat pumps to heat them, underfloor heating.
04:14They have mechanical heat and ventilation recovery,
04:19which means we're recovering the heat from inside the building.
04:23They've got, outside, we've got car chargers.
04:26We've got solar PV and solar thermal on the roof.
04:30And we've also got battery storage, so any electricity generated in the day
04:34that isn't used is stored so it can be used overnight.
04:37Yeah.
04:38All that means that they're very, very cheap to run.
04:41Estimated annual running costs will be about £300.
04:44God, wouldn't we all love that with the properties that we're, you know,
04:48I'm sure all the rest of us are living in.
04:50And it's even, you know, the thinking process into the design of these,
04:54we've even got, just fill us in a little bit about your saying,
04:57potential lift space in the second bedroom.
04:59Yeah, so they're designed to lifetime home standard,
05:02which means that you can live in them your entire life.
05:06So if you become elderly and infirm, there's space to put a lift in.
05:10And there are two bedrooms, so even if you needed a living,
05:14two bedrooms and two bathrooms, so even if you needed a live-in carer,
05:18you could have them, you could have a carer.
05:20Yeah.
05:21And we'll come to you next, Madam Leader of Shropshire Council.
05:24I am.
05:25What do you think then? We've had a little look, we've met John, he's lovely isn't he?
05:28He just.
05:29I've been fortunate enough to be able to come to see these being built actually.
05:33I've probably been here three or four times now,
05:35and I think this for me shows what you can do in a village setting.
05:39Yeah.
05:40Very often, you know, you hear people say,
05:41oh we don't want new houses in the village, these are new houses,
05:44look what can be done.
05:45And I think it just takes that little bit of leap of faith sometimes,
05:48and you know, it's brilliant that Gavin has taken that.
05:53But I think this is also a bit of a prototype
05:55for what other estates could do in the county actually.
05:58Yeah.
05:59Which also enables them to, if you like, sort of churn your properties,
06:05because obviously with John, we know that John was in a larger property,
06:09he's now moved in here,
06:10which means that that other property is now available for another family.
06:13Yeah.
06:14So it's that continuum, if you like.
06:16But these are lovely.
06:17I'd quite happily move into one, I can tell you that.
06:19And me, and me.
06:20I've bagged in that second bedroom already for John.
06:23So I'm not sure who's best placed to answer this.
06:26In terms of what this would have cost to build,
06:29well, let's say old spec,
06:32compared to all the technology that's gone into this one,
06:36how much more, it's going to come at a cost I presume?
06:40They do cost more.
06:41They cost about £20,000 per property more than conventional house.
06:46Yeah.
06:47But they are completely future-proof.
06:49Actually, I was expecting you to say even more than that actually.
06:52So yeah.
06:53And I guess that then holds its value down the line as well, doesn't it,
06:57when you've got that spec?
06:58And it's always easier to do it.
07:00Well, Graham, you can tell me if I'm wrong,
07:02but it's easier to put all these things in for a new build.
07:05It's far harder to retrofit.
07:07So all the insulation, the heat pumps and everything,
07:10you could retrofit heat pumps.
07:11But to get the insulation absolutely right,
07:13you really do need to do it for a new build.
07:15What's it, Graham?
07:16You were saying these bricks, lovely and old as they do look,
07:18they're only really a skim just to hide in all that kind of modern insulation.
07:22The bricks are called brick slips.
07:25They're actually 15mm thick.
07:27And behind it is all the insulation of the main structure.
07:32Yeah.
07:33So, Gavin, is this a one-off project?
07:35Or would you like to, you know,
07:37is there plans to maybe have a couple more even there dotted across the estate?
07:41Well, as there's such a demand for housing,
07:44we are beginning to consider where we could do some more housing.
07:48So there's a possibility for development by Bridge North as well.
07:53Do you think any future development on the Appley Estate
07:56will all be houses like this, basically, that tick all those eco boxes?
08:00Is that the plan?
08:01The plan would be to make them extremely good quality,
08:04both in terms of what they look like and from an environmental point of view.
08:08I think one of the main problems why people object to housing
08:11is because they're nothing special.
08:14They don't look right and they could be anywhere in the country.
08:16Yeah.
08:17Whereas I think it's important to have housing that people like in their local area.
08:20Well, you've certainly ticked all the boxes here
08:22and you've got a happy customer in John there.
08:24So thank you, folks.