Environmental housing for Wolverhampton City Council.

30 apartments and terrace housing. £4.0 million.

This November, Cross Street South, the Midland’s first Eco community in Wolverhampton, won the Sustainable Housing Award for ‘Sustainable larger social housing project of the year’ at a ceremony hosted by impressionist, comedian, and committed environmental campaigner, Alistair McGowan, at London’s Hilton Hotel.

This ground breaking development, the superstructure structural engineering which was designed by McCarey Simmonds, provides 27 eco-friendly flats and 3 houses that uses up to 50% less energy than standard homes, only needing 2 kilowatts of heat as opposed to the usual 8 to 10. It also uses a range of low maintenance materials such as cedar cladding and recycled wood in its kitchen units. The grass roof provides good insulation and keeps the homes cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Other eco friendly aspects include a community recycled wood chip boiler, which provides all of the heating and hot water for the homes, low energy lighting, composting, recycling bins, water butts and high performance softwood and double-glazing.