A visit to Fen Drayton
27 March 2025
We welcomed Daniel Zeichner Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to Fen Drayton last week to find out more about our recently completed Rural Exception site, developed to meet the identified housing needs of local people.
The scheme, offers applicants with a local connection a mix of 14 homes, comprising one-bedroom bungalows and one-, two- and three-bedroom houses for social rent and shared ownership. It has been funded with a Homes England grant from the Affordable Housing Programme, together with bpha finance.
The project has been made possible through effective partnership working between a number of organisations including Cambridgeshire ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England), South Cambridgeshire District Council and Fen Drayton Parish Council.
Jeff Astle, Director of Development & Sales, bpha: “Teal Close at Fen Drayton is testament to the collaborative approach between all parties to provide attractive and sustainable homes for those with close connections to the parish who would otherwise be priced out of the local housing market.”
Energy efficiency has been a key consideration throughout and Energy Performance Certificate level A will be achieved on all homes as a result of a thermally efficient building fabric and the introduction of low-carbon energy measures. The homes have been constructed using the LoCal Homes MMC (Modern Methods of Construction) System 200 which comprises 200mm insulated panels and factory applied cladded exteriors, either render or brick slip. The panels arrive to site pre-assembled, reducing the on-site construction time and improving efficiency.
The heating system is via a two-zone programmer, with radiators served from an Ecodan air source heat pump. Ventilation is provided with a balanced whole house mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery. A photovoltaic system to the homes provides sustainable energy. Batteries are installed to recirculate the excess generated power into the home, further improving the energy efficiency. And the homes have been designed with efficient water use in mind and the measures in place could reduce water use to 110 litres per person per day.
