We moved in to a 'green' house and our gas bill was just 87p

Mar 15 2007 By Steve Johnson, Birmingham Mail

FAMILIES in one favoured part of the Midlands are quids in - thanks to Britain's greenest housing development.

One resident at the revolutionary "intelligent and green" complex in Lyttleton Street, West Bromwich, said she had never had it so good as she boasted of a gas bill for just 87 pence!

Angela Kilvert-King, who lives in her second-floor flat with husband Michael, 46, said she could not afford to live anywhere else and could not believe how lucky she had been to land her Sandwell Homes property.

Sandwell Council and contractors Wates Construction built the £850,000 Integer complex - 12 apartments and three houses - on the Lyng estate almost seven years ago and families are reaping the extraordinary benefits of solar panels, timber wall panels filled with recycled cellulose insulation, a water recycling system, low-energy light fittings and a single central boiler system with intelligent controls.

Angela said: "There is a saying about seven years of bad luck but I am delighted to say we have had seven years of incredible good fortune after moving in here when these flats and houses were built in 2000.

"The solar water heaters give us our hot water, linked to a boiler, and it means we always have plenty.

"And the timber wall panels, insulation and big south-facing windows mean we are always warm.

"The gas bills are incredibly low - I once had a bill for just 87 pence and our yearly gas bill is about £70.

"Our electric bills are normal, about £400 a year, and we have our rent on top, but we have never lived so cheaply.''

Former Sandwell Council head of housing improvement, Barry Plant, who helped mastermind the Integer project, said: "We wanted the Integer complex not to look like council housing.

"I think we proved it was possible to provide functional, sustainable and energy-efficient homes to a tight schedule and within a social housing budget.

The design has proved popular with tenants, who enjoy higher living standards and lower running costs."

He said Lyttleton Street was a step-change in the way social housing was delivered, but it was not perfect and he would love to see a scheme where the local authority could move even further forward with ecofriendly properties.