Underfloor Heating and Renewable Energy Development Scoops Major Award

A Cambridge company recently took home the gong for Best Development at the Sustain Magazine Awards, thanks to its pioneering project which made excellent use of energy-efficiency, carbon reduction and underfloor heating. Hill Partnerships and Cambridge and County Developments was celebrating this week after its building at Richard Newcombe Court, in the city’s Histon Road was selected by judges at the industry?s leading eco awards as the perfect example of sustainable living.

The facility was designed to help elderly residents live as eco-friendly and independent a life as possible, and to this end is completely carbon-neutral, with biomass boilers fuelled with locally-sourced wood pellets, which operate the underfloor heating system throughout the building. It also uses photovoltaic cells as a renewable energy resource to general electricity for each flat. This energy is monitored by smart meters to make sure it is used as efficiently as possible. Hill Partnerships managing director Andy Hill said: “Richard Newcombe Court is a pioneering scheme for older people, which successfully combines sustainable, independent living with a strong sense of community. We hope this model will be replicated across the country.”