New 'low carbon' community to be built in East London

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Housing

E.ON, Countryside Properties and Affinity Sutton have announced plans to work together to develop a low carbon community of 649 homes at the East City Point development in London’s Canning Town.  

The scheme is part of Newham Council’s £3.7 billion Canning Town & Custom House Regeneration Programme.

E.ON’s Sustainable Energy business has signed a commercial agreement which will see it manage and maintain the energy supply for the Newham development, which includes 227 affordable homes provided through Affinity Sutton.  

As an alternative to traditionally connected homes with individual gas boilers for heat and hot water, E.ON will deliver heating and hot water supply through a community energy centre and district heating network.

Combined heat and power (CHP) units and highly efficient gas boilers will supply a more efficient source of heat which is then piped through the district heating network to each of the homes across the 3.68 (ha) site.  

It is expected that the community energy model will help to achieve cost savings for domestic users, while reducing carbon emissions on site by approximately 25 percent compared to traditionally connected properties*.

Jeremy Bungey, Head of Community Energy at E.ON, said: “We’re delighted to be involved in such a large scale project with Countryside Properties and are confident that our expertise in decentralised energy, combined with the technology, will help make East City Point a leading example of an energy efficient community.

“By delivering lower carbon heating system to developments like this we really are playing a key role in ensuring it’s as simple as possible for people to lead more sustainable lives.”

Jim Dodd, Development Director of Countryside Properties said: “We have an excellent track record of building high quality new homes that deliver energy efficiency to our customers, enabling homeowners to reduce their environmental footprint while also saving money.

"In E.ON we have identified an energy partner who shares this vision and can deliver tangible benefits to our customers.”

Councillor Conor McAuley, Executive Member for Regeneration for the London Borough of Newham said: “The major housing development at East City Point is helping to deliver against our regeneration aspirations for the London Borough of Newham.

"At the heart of this project is a commitment to making renewable energy integral to daily community life, creating an opportunity for cost savings and building towards a more sustainable future.”

The first phase of East City Point featuring 139 homes launched in October 2011 with phased completion of the remaining 510 homes and a new Keir Hardie primary school anticipated from January 2013 onwards.