Kingdom Housing Association hosts MSP visit At £6.9 Million Passivhaus Development in Gauldry

Fife based Kingdom Housing Association welcomed Scottish Labour Spokesperson on Housing & Local Government, Mark Griffin MSP, representatives from the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA), and Kingdom Housing Association Board Members to their largest sustainable housing development to date recently.

The £6.9 million development at Balgove Road in Gauldry will provide 30 affordable new homes for social rent, all built to Passivhaus and Net-Zero Carbon standards.

The Passivhaus Standard is internationally recognised and focuses on 5 key principles; high quality insulation, heat control and high performing windows, airtight construction, heat recovery ventilation, and thermal bridge free design. The resulting homes are highly energy-efficient and will achieve an energy rating of 102 which exceeds the ‘A’ rated Energy Performance Certificate banding.

Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, said, “Kingdom is making fantastic progress at Balgove Road to deliver Passivhaus homes for rent to social tenants, and shows the excellent work the association is delivering for Fife. Warmer, airtight homes that cost less to heat are vital to tackle Scotland’s fuel poverty crisis and our climate emergency so this is exactly the innovation we need to see in the years ahead. Now the government has agreed to deliver an equivalent ‘Scottish Standard’, first proposed by my colleague Alex Rowley, I hope Kingdom can be at the forefront of these changes to new build standards.”

The development at Balgove Road in Gauldry features a diverse housing mix including family homes, cottage flats as well as amenity bungalows. Solar panels, superfast broadband and public electric vehicle charging points will be provided and a range of community benefits will be delivered throughout the construction phase including training opportunities and job creation.

Bill Banks, outgoing Group Chief Executive at Kingdom said, “I am very impressed by the specification of the new homes being built by Campion Homes for Kingdom in Gauldry. In 2010 Kingdom was the first housing association in the UK to achieve Passivhaus accreditation with a property for social rent and now work is well underway on our most environmentally friendly development to date.”

Bill added, “ The homes will be warmer and cost less to heat. That’s not only good for the environment, it’s good for our tenants too. Whilst the Passivhaus standards are excellent, they also come with some constraints and it would be good if we could agree a way to develop the equivalent ‘Scottish Standard’ in the future, which reduces the reliance on importing components from Europe, reduces costs, and helps build the capacity of the Scottish Supply Chain.“

Linda Leslie, KHA Chair said ‘I’m really pleased Kingdom’s new Chief Executive Tom Barclay was also able to join the visit and see first-hand the quality of housing and the innovative approaches we take at Kingdom. The new homes will all meet the exacting Passivhaus Standard. They will also achieve the Gold Secured by Design Standard and the Building Regulations Silver with Gold Level 2 and Platinum Level 1 sustainability standards. That means that Kingdom will be able to provide affordable, stylish, safe, secure and hugely energy-efficient homes, which bring added health benefits, for our tenants.

Corrie Innes, Public Affairs and Policy Coordinator at the SFHA, said, “It’s great to see the progress Kingdom is making in providing these much-needed, high quality affordable homes in Fife. Housing associations build the best quality homes for affordable rent in Scotland, maintain them to an excellent standard and contribute to their local communities all while striving to achieve net zero.”

The total project cost is £6.9 million with funding of £3.9 million provided by the Scottish Government and a contribution of £74,726 provided by Scottish Water.

The project is scheduled to complete in September 2023 with properties being allocated from the Fife Housing Register.