St. Andrews House

Description

St Andrews House tackles both climate and affordable housing crises, whilst helping the most vulnerable people in the society. The six new apartments are zero-operational-carbon social-rented council homes on a council-owned garage site. This affordable housing project not only met Mid Devon District Council’s (MDDC) housing & well-being goals but also marked the region's first MMC-led sustainable development.

MDDC's key priority is to provide affordable, low-carbon, accessible, and adaptable homes. They have also pledged carbon neutrality by 2030. However, they face huge financial strains and inhouse resource gap for development.

Councillor Simon Clist said:“.. there is a need for more social rented housing within the district. These ready to move homes and our long-term programme of housing look to positively address this - these new zero-carbon, energy-efficient homes are a way forward and will help towards the Council’s Net Zero ambitions.”

Rapidly building energy-efficient homes on constrained sites with minimal disruption to the local community is challenging with traditional construction methods. This modular development transformed an 8-garage contaminated site through stakeholder engagement, grid-based design, innovative volumetric MMC, zero-carbon specifications, and collaborative workflow (full turnkey D&B process) with wrap-around tenant support.

Meeting local needs, winning “hearts and minds”

Placemaking, community & neighbourhood engagement were prioritised from early stage.

Councillor Bob Evans said: “Consultations are a valuable platform for us to hear your views – all feedback will be taken on-board and influence how we move forward with this project…”

“NIMBYism” and “misconceptions on MMC” of local community were addressed by showcasing a 2-storey demo unit in Cullompton to 400 local people over 4 months. Unprecedented level (95% of visitors) consented for “green” scheme with 90% positive ratings on environmental, innovation & quality, which expedited faster planning permission approval.

Feedback from local people:

• “Love the unit! An innovative solution to the diverse housing we need.”
• “…a brilliant idea to provide more social housing quickly…”

MDDC wanted to be 100% sure and undertook commercial assessments to mitigate risks. ZED PODS’s early design works unlocked two government fundings (BLRF1 & AHP), which made the project commercially feasible & secured, and boosted confidence to stakeholders. It is the region's first MMC-led initiative to had received and achieved practical (on-time & on-budget) completion under the BLRF1.

Sustainability:

The project achieved zero-operational-carbon with onsite renewables, improved fabric performance, careful material selection, factory build processes, and a strategy to minimise embodied carbon during construction. Collaboration overcame design and technical challenges, embracing a customised approach and local vernaculars. Following DfMA principles and a "Be Lean, Be Clean, Be Green" hierarchy, these homes were 90% completed in an ISO-certified UK factory with a “zero-waste to landfill” policy. Onsite installation took 2 days without heavy construction vehicles, minimising disruption to local community.

Prioritising tenants’ well-being and safety, these homes offer maximum daylight, private balconies, low-running costs, and remote sensors for fire, CO2, moisture, and energy tracking. Fitted with triple-glazed windows/doors, superior airtightness, and 2.6 KW PV panels per home, making them SAP100A+ rated homes producing more energy than they consume, resulting in low operating costs. Over 30 years, the project saves 296.5 tonnes of carbon and 3210 kilolitres of water, and 50% less embodied carbon than traditional new builds.

Changing lives:

Circa 14 day-lease prisoners from HMP North Sea Camp worked on this project in the factory under the “Prisoners Building Homes Program” initiated by MoJ, DLUHC & PCCs.

We prioritised use of local SMEs, upskilled local businesses, and enhanced employment opportunities. 60% of survey works were delivered by Devon-based micro-SMEs, foundation works done by southwest-based groundworker. Regular training sessions on renewables for MDDC’s maintenance team ensure smooth upkeep & address “green” skills-gaps.

Every household received user-friendly "Home User Guide”, with training on low-carbon living and given access to obtain pre-loved furniture to reduce landfill waste. After tenants moved in, MDDC’s allocation team offered help within first 2 weeks, followed by tenant involvement team for “satisfaction survey” in week 3 and income support team. On week 6, in person visit was done by MDDC’s neighbourhood officer.

These proactive wrap-around support helped the residents to settle in. For example, one tenant did not have much furniture and couldn’t afford a new or second-hand washing machine immediately. MDDC officer helped her to get a cheaper pre-loved machine from local charity “Turntable”.

St Andrews House Residents: “We are extremely grateful and feel very lucky to have got a property at St Andrews House. It is a huge relief that we will not be in temporary housing anymore and we will welcome our baby in our lovely permanent home.  We love the flat, it’s so bright and airy and we never want to leave.”

Not only the project is fostering a “low-carbon, low-energy” community, but unlocked 400 additional MMC-led sustainable homes, inspired other LAs and featured in the “MMC Playbook”.

St Andrews House Residents: said:

“We are extremely grateful and feel very lucky to have got a property at St Andrews House. It is a huge relief that we will not be in temporary housing anymore and we will welcome our baby in our lovely permanent home.  We love the flat, it’s so bright and airy and we never want to leave.”

Mike Lowman, Operations Manager from MDDC, said

“I have to admit that when we started on this journey, I never thought that it would generate so much interest and support. The aim was and still is to provide as much new social housing and to the best standard we could, and this is the first of many projects that will enable us to achieve this. So, this recognition shows just what a great team we have and what passion they have in what they do.”