£6.9m green housing development in Fife on course to open in 2023

Kingdom Housing Association’s largest green housing development to date is at Balgove Road in Gauldry.

Last week it welcomed representatives from the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) plus North East Fife MSP Willie Rennie and local Councillor Jonny Tepp for a visit.

The development will provide 30 affordable new homes for social rent, all built to Passivhaus and Net-Zero Carbon standards.

The Passivhaus Standard is internationally recognised and focuses on five key principles; high quality insulation, heat control and high performing windows, airtight construction, heat recovery ventilation, and thermal bridge free design. The resulting homes are highly energy-efficient and will achieve an energy rating of 102 which exceeds the ‘A’ rated Energy Performance Certificate banding.

Mr Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, said, “This development has been hotly debated locally so I wanted to see for myself the work that has been done.

“I was very impressed by the quality of the build which is to Passivhaus standards. That means these homes will cost very little to keep warm which is excellent in a time of high energy costs. We are in desperate need of good quality homes at a social rent so this development will help us tackle that issue.”

Councillor Tepp,added: “Gauldry is a special place to live and like everywhere else there is a demand for affordable homes. The development is particularly special because it is being built to very high build standards in order to achieve Passivhaus accreditation, providing quiet, healthy homes that have very low running costs.

“I have no doubt this will make a real difference to the lives of everyone allocated a home.”

The development features a diverse mix including family homes, cottage flats as well as amenity bungalows. Solar panels, superfast broadband, and public electric vehicle charging points will be provided.

Bill Banks, Kingdom Group chief executive said, “In 2010 Kingdom was the first housing association in the UK to achieve Passivhaus accreditation with a property for social rent and now work is well underway on our most environmentally friendly development to date.”

The project is scheduled to complete in September 2023.