News

News feeds |

Property

Property of the week

Modern detached house

A well-presented modern detached family home on the edge of South Muskham has come on the market, priced £325,000, through Alasdair Morrison and Partners of Newark.

The Linnets in Main Street was built by Country Field Homes to a high specification with features such as stone front windows, a beam and block first floor, and solid oak floor covering to the sitting room, family room and master bedroom.

New code comes into force

The government has confirmed that all new homes must now be rated against the Code for Sustainable Homes.

This will lead to a significant change in the way new houses are built in the future.

The code, which came into force yesterday, is a national sustainability standard and all new homes will be awarded points for a number of environmental factors.

These include energy efficiency, water usage, materials used, waste reduction and the ecology of the site. Every new house will then be awarded a Code Level from 0 to 6 — level 6 being defined as a zero carbon home.

Mr Alex Hole of Midland Energy Services said: “We are finding that many developers are not yet fully aware of the effect this will have on the way they build new houses.

“The government wants all new houses built to a zero carbon standard by the year 2016 and minimum requirements of the Code of Sustainable Houses will be steadily raised over the next few years in order to reach this target.

“Many developers will use the code as a positive marketing tool to confirm the sustainable attributes of their homes. “From yesterday this information became a mandatory part of the Home Information Pack.

“Our research has shown that many developers and designers aren’t aware that they have to have their houses rated under the Code of Sustainable Houses,” said Mr Hole. “As design changes are often required to meet code requirements it’s very important developers and architects get advice as early in the design stage as possible.”

Midland Energy Services has produced a leaflet describing the main elements of the Code for Sustainable Homes which is available to developers and designers free by emailing info@midlandenergyservices.co.uk

Further information on what the government is calling a step change in housebuilding can also be found at www.midlandenergyservices.co.uk

ABOVE: MR ALEX HOLE