Highwood’s approach to greener, more energy efficient new homes

If lockdown has taught us one thing, it’s to cut our cloth. The uncertainty that arrived with the global COVID-19 pandemic has led many to re-evaluate and prioritise household finances and, for those keen to make a move to a new home, there’s never better time to look at new homes that keep their running costs down.

Highwood has long been a renowned proponent of sustainable, energy efficient homes – earning a BREEAM shortlisting for our North Stoneham Park development along the way. A welcome by-product of using environmentally sensitive technologies and materials is that a Highwood home is always cheaper to run We take a ‘fabric-first’ approach to construction that maximises the performance of the materials used in the ‘build envelope’ and ensures the building will continue to achieve ultra-low U-values and standards of energy efficiency even if the new owners choose not to energy-saving devices. Increasing insulation, reducing heat loss and air infiltration and using the sun as a heat source are typical methods that we ensure we can reduce energy consumption and help to keep bills down.

Here are some other ways that we keep energy efficiency, thermal performance and those all-important U-values optimised: