Octopus Energy has joined forces with award- winning housebuilder, The Hill Group, to build 89 low carbon homes at Hollymead Square in Newport, Essex.
The variety of two to five-bed houses and two- bed bungalows are being equipped with cutting edge low carbon technology to guarantee Zero Bills for five years under the innovative Octopus Energy scheme.
This landmark strategic partnership will also deliver some of the first ever affordable rent Zero Bills homes, as well as shared ownership homes with social housing provider, Clarion Housing, on 25 of the homes. The other 64 will be sold on the open market.
Each property will have solar panels, high-quality insulation, heat pumps and home storage batteries.
Designed to exceed the energy requirements for each home, the technology is integrated and optimised by Octopus’ advanced Kraken platform to result in the zero energy bills.
A ‘significant milestone’ for Envirolec
Winning this contract was a major coup for Envirolec which has spent several months on site, working closely with companies including Viridian, GivEnergy and Octopus Energy to bring the designs to life.
Envirolec sales director, Saul Penhallow, said: “We were honoured to secure this smart energy scheme alongside Hill Group, focusing on solar and battery storage for a groundbreaking Zero Bills decarbonisation initiative.
“This cutting-edge technology will complement an air source heat pump to achieve the ambitious goal of eliminating energy bills throughout the entire development.
“This was a significant milestone for us and we are proud to be at the forefront of such a transformative project, demonstrating our commitment to sustainable solutions and driving positive change in the energy sector.
“Our dedicated project management team has meticulously orchestrated the execution of this prestigious project, ensuring seamless co-ordination with the site management team to adhere to agreed-upon milestones.”
At the time of interviewing, Envirolec had installed almost 600 Viridian 405W solar panels across 25 plots.
Saul continued: “As we transition to the next phase, internal works will include the deployment of 45 hybrid GivEnergy inverters and the commissioning of GivEnergy batteries.
“Collaborative efforts with Viridian meant we were able to quickly implement any design changes, ensuring compliance with individual SAP/EPC ratings per plot.”
Greg Hill, deputy chief executive at The Hill Group, said: “We are excited to be working in partnership with Octopus Energy to provide our customers with the largest residential Zero Bills development in the UK. The new homes at Hollymead Square in Newport will provide a blueprint for future sustainable housing and mark the start of our fruitful strategic partnership to deliver new homes complete with cutting-edge low-carbon technology that enable zero energy bills.”
Richard Cook, group director of development at Clarion Housing Group, added: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Octopus Energy and Hill Group on such an innovative project. It’s crucial that we cut emissions and cut bills for homes of all tenures. I am proud that Clarion residents will be among the first to benefit from a Zero Bills home.”
A view from an installer
The Hollymead project is providing Envirolec installers with new experiences and training opportunities – such as GivEnergy’s dedicated training for their battery installation.
Among those working on the site is our cover star, 26-year-old Ben Wright.
Ben started his career as an electrician 10 years ago with an apprenticeship. He’s been with Envirolec for three years and says he hasn’t looked back since moving into solar PV.
“I’ve really enjoyed this project,” Ben said. “The jobs I’d worked on before were much smaller two or three panel systems, so this is definitely my biggest project to date. I’ve probably installed up to 400 panels on this site, which is more than the rest of my career put together so far.
“I’d say it’s an average of around 35 panels per roof, although some houses have more than 40 panels on them, covering all aspects of the roof.
“I’ve learned so much from installing solar day in, day out on such a large scale. I can probably fit around 33 to 35 panels on a good day now when everything goes perfectly to plan.”
Image credit: Envirolec
