WEST Dunbartonshire Council has earmarked a future housing development site in Bonhill for a pilot scheme of Passivhaus energy efficient homes.
The local authority said that the 26-home site is the ‘optimum’ location to trial the building standard in the constituency – with seven of the homes set to be Passivhaus, if the development is given the green light.
Passivhaus buildings require less energy for heating and hot water than standard buildings – allowing for low running costs. They have enhanced insulation, airtightness and solar power so as to ensure that heat from activities like cooking, using computers or showering is retained.
Peter Barry, chief officer of housing and employability at West Dunbartonshire Council, said, “Our continued ambition around our new build programme is to ensure our homes enhance our residents’ sense of wellbeing. We can achieve this by delivering the highest quality energy efficiency standards, and reducing the running costs of our homes consistently and over a long period of time.
“This trial of Passivhaus is important to ensure we test our capacity to deliver these homes on a wider basis in the future. Our proposals will also see us meet ahead of target the requirements of the 2024 regulations in installing zero emission heating systems in our new build homes.”
