Plans for energy efficient prototype homes at Scarborough's Construction Skills Village set to be approved

Keyland Developments wants to create the two properties, called the Innovation Hub, at the Construction Skills Village at High Eastfield Farm, Eastfield.

On Thursday, Scarborough Council's planning committee will be asked to grant planning permission for the Innovation Hub to be built.

A report prepared for the councillors states: "The applicant, Keyland, and its partner SoHoCo hope that the dwellings will allow them to demonstrate the effectiveness of their design in creating very energy efficient homes that can be used for research and training purposes, with students of the Construction Skills Village learning how to construct such buildings, and to understand how the different components need to be put together to achieve the requirements of Passivhaus accreditation."

Passivhaus buildings, the idea of which comes from the Passivhaus Institute in Germany, achieve a 75% reduction in space heating requirements, compared to standard practice for a UK new build.

The Passivhaus standard is now being used to help the industry achieve the 80% carbon reductions that are set as a legislative target for the UK Government.

The report adds: "One of the properties is proposed to be fully completed internally to demonstrate that the interior of a highly energy efficient house looks and feels no different to any other modern dwelling.

"It is proposed that this property will be used for additional office and meeting space by the Skills Village so as to be able to replicate occupation similar to that of residential occupier that will then enable the energy use and costs of the building to be monitored and shared with others, with the expectation that this should be well below that of housing built to current Building Regulations standards.

"The second property will be left semi-completed internally so as to allow it to be used as a training facility for students, who can then fit out different areas of the property to the standards required for Passivhaus accreditation.

"The proposed innovation hub is considered to be an exciting proposal that will further local knowledge and understanding of highly energy efficient dwellings, whilst enabling the applicant to demonstrate to interested parties and potentially future customers of such properties that they are attractive, comfortable, easy and cost efficient to occupy."

The plans have been recommended for approval.

The Construction Skills Village was created to help meet the target of 49,000 construction-related workers needed for the region by 2030 - and to provide the skilled workers required to build the 9,000 homes needed in Scarborough over the next 10 years.