A celebratory event attended by Council members, Housing Developers, Supplier Partners and local residents was recently held at Moat House Leisure and Neighbourhood Centre in Coventry to launch the redevelopment of four housing estates in North Coventry; Wood End, Deedmore, Henley Green and Manor Farm (WEHM).
The event was attended by Guest of Honour, Sir Bob Kerslake, Chief Executive of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) who openly expressed his support and commitment to the regeneration scheme.

The WEHM development beat off competition to secure a grant of £1.6 million from the Low Carbon Infrastructure Fund (LCIF) for the schemes low carbon proposal; assisting Coventry City Council in reaching its CO2 reduction target of 40% by the year 2025.
The redevelopment scheme is set to kick start the creation of a series of low carbon based new-build and regeneration projects.

Vital Energi are the preferred partner for delivery of the low carbon community energy scheme serving the first phases of the £360 million WEHM redevelopment. The award to Vital Energi of the CHP based community energy scheme is set to be the fourth such LCIF funded contract award to the company  with a further 3 projects awaited subject to confirmation of funding.

The first phase sees the redevelopment of 154 homes comprising a mix of 2 and 3 storey properties. With the help of Vital Energi’s low carbon community energy solution, the houses are set to achieve “Level 4” under the “Code for Sustainable Homes”.
 
During the celebration, Sir Bob Kerslake thanked local residents for their input and helped put the final touches to a time capsule that is to be buried at the development with the aim of showing future generations how the neighbourhood has developed with the help of West Mercia Housing Group,Coventry City Council and Vital Energi.

Sir Bob Kerslake took the opportunity to speak with Vital Energi’s Managing Director, Ian Whitelock, about the unique Combined Heat and Power (CHP) scheme they propose to install and the two discussed how this would help to achieve a more sustainable community. The HCA have estimated a carbon saving of 185t CO2/yr for the site, thus considerably contributing towards the Council’s target.

Sir Bob Kerslake, chief executive of the Homes and Communities Agency, said:

“We are very supportive of new and sustainable ways of using renewable energy in affordable homes, to reduce fuel poverty, conserve energy and limit housing’s impact on the environment.  So it is great to see this approach being progressed in North Coventry, in common with many other HCA funded schemes across the country.  I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and look forward to seeing the end results.”

Vital Energi will work alongside the key development partners, Bovis Homes, Keepmoat Homes and Whitefriars Housing Group to deliver significant energy improvements whilst making the WEHM estates a template for future energy saving schemes.