31 Aug 2023
Sustainability has become increasingly important to homebuyers in recent years. A survey carried out by Money Supermarket on behalf of BRE (Building Research Establishment) found that over two-thirds of people felt that if they were buying or renting a property in future, it would be important that it has energy-efficient features[1]. Meanwhile, research by Turley found that 39% of people are more likely to buy eco-friendly homes following the energy crisis[2]. Now, in Cambridge, 5-star housebuilder The Hill Group is welcoming homebuyers to explore the impressive green credentials of its properties at Knights Park, the development that won the Housing Design Award for being one of the most sustainable residential schemes in the UK[3].
The Hill Group is offering informal tours of the stunning show home at Knights Park and is proud to support the Sustainable You event. Organised by the University of Cambridge as part of this year's Open Cambridge Festival, the event will highlight a range of environmentally friendly initiatives, from toy swaps and biodiversity to eating, travelling, and greener living.
Taking place in Eddington on 9th September, the free event will provide tours available to join at 11am, 12pm, and 1pm and will demonstrate how the homes at Knights Park are constructed with a focus on sustainable living. Tour groups during the Sustainable You event will be limited to 15 people and assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.
Visitors will have the chance to take a look around the beautiful Cavendish Villa and see how the homes have been designed to minimise residents' carbon footprint, including through reduced energy consumption. Features include temperature-efficient triple glazing, which keeps homes cooler in summer and warmer in winter and solar panels for eco-friendly electricity. Smart meters in each home support residents to monitor and reduce their energy consumption.
The Villas is a prestigious collection of just nine luxurious five-bedroom homes. Each residence provides commodious accommodation set across three floors paired with its own distinct character and luxurious specification. Perfectly created to cater for every member of the household, the Villa Collection at Knights Park delivers a striking showcase of sophisticated modern architecture, outstanding specification, and superior design.
Knights Park is surrounded by 123 acres of green space and forms part of the visionary new Eddington neighbourhood, imagined by the University of Cambridge and designed to exemplary standards of sustainability. The first phase of homes at Knights Park, Athena, is a contemporary collection of three and four-bedroom houses each with its own private outdoor space and carefully designed, flexible layout. Rubicon showcases a range of spacious apartments within grand warehouse-style blocks with striking sloped roofs. It also features a range of inspiring co-working spaces, while the apartments themselves boast high ceilings, industrial-style windows, and impressive contemporary finishes.
All homes at Knights Park are built in line with the Code for Sustainable Homes Level 5 and Lifetime Homes Standard. A district energy centre reduces energy waste and CO2 emissions while providing instant heat and hot water to each home. Knights Park is also home to one of the largest rainwater recycling systems in the country. There is an innovative underground waste and recycling system that automatically signals the collection company for emptying when the container reaches 80% capacity, reducing the energy consumption typically associated with regular waste collections.
Rebecca Littler, Group Sales and Marketing Director at The Hill Group, comments: “We are delighted to be bringing the University of Cambridge's vision for first-class, sustainable living to life at Knights Park. It has proven to be very popular with local buyers, with more than 90% of homes in the Athena and Rubicon phases now already sold. We look forward to welcoming environmentally conscious visitors on 9th September as part of the Sustainable You event and sharing details of how and why it is so important to build homes that allow residents to live a more energy-efficient lifestyle.”
Knights Parks' location means that the homes support greener forms of travel. It enjoys Eddington's network of new walking and cycling routes, with Cambridge city centre just 11 minutes away on two wheels and Cambridge train station reachable in 18 minutes. Trains from there take just under an hour to reach London Kings Cross, 49 minutes to reach Peterborough and 30 minutes to take travellers to Stansted Airport. A Park and Ride service runs from just outside Rubicon into the city, while the M11 is four minutes away by car.
Knights Park provides everything needed for a healthy, active local lifestyle. Facilities nearby include shops and cafes, a market square, Storey's Field Community Centre, a cricket pitch, a running track, Eddington Nursery, and the Ofsted Outstanding-rated University of Cambridge Primary School.
Greenery extends all around, surrounded by nature and wildlife in abundance. Buyers simply looking to enjoy nature have the lakes and lagoons of Brook Leys on their doorstep, while the planting of more than 2,000 trees, plants and brambles and the installation of roosting boxes for swifts, house sparrows, starlings and bats has further boosted Knights Park's biodiversity credentials.
Select homes are eligible for Hill's Deposit Unlock scheme, which means buyers only need a 5% deposit to purchase 100% of a home.
Prices start from £1,124,950 for a four-bedroom house and from £1,349,950 for a five-bedroom house, with selected properties available with a stamp duty contribution and Deposit Unlock. Fusion, the next phase of contemporary apartments, is due to launch in early 2024. For further information about homes at Knights Park, visit www.knightspark-eddington.co.uk or call 01223 607200.
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For further media information, please contact Emma Heaney at The Oracle Group PR Agency: hillsales@oraclepr.co.uk / Tel: 020 8394 2821
About Hill
Hill is an award-winning housebuilder and one of the leading developers in London, the home counties, and the South East, renowned for its partnership ethos specialising in the building of distinctive new places and communities where people want to live, work, and socialise. It is now in the process of opening new regional offices to facilitate growth both in the South West and the Midlands.
In its 24th year, this family-owned and operated company has grown to establish itself as the UK's second-largest privately-owned housebuilder, with an impressive and diverse portfolio of schemes ranging from landmark, mixed-use regeneration schemes and inner-city apartments to homes in rural communities.
Employing over 800 staff, the company operates from five strategically located regional offices, with its head office based in Waltham Abbey, Essex.
Hill anticipates completing over 2,600 homes in 2023 and has a controlled land bank with planning consent for over 8,500 units. Around half of the development portfolio is in joint venture to deliver a range of mixed tenure developments, reflecting Hill's commitment to partnerships with government, local authorities, housing associations, and private clients.
Hill has won over 480 industry awards in the past 24 years, including Best Medium Housebuilder at the Housebuilder Awards for the last three years, where in 2022, Hill's commitment to creating exceptional homes and sustainable communities was recognised with the Best Community Initiative and Best Sustainability Initiative. Hill's impressive Cavendish Villas at the highly sustainable Knights Park development in Eddington, Cambridge won Best Family Home at the 2022 Evening Standard New Homes Awards, as well as Best House and Best Exterior Design at the 2022 WhatHouse? Awards. In addition, Hill has been awarded the 5-star status in the Home Builders Federation's annual Customer Satisfaction Survey for the past six years.
The Hill Group is donating 200 fully equipped modular homes to local authorities and homeless charities as part of a £15 million pledge through its Foundation 200 programme, launched in 2019 to mark Hill's 20th anniversary.
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For more information, contact The Oracle Group PR Agency on Tel: 020 8394 2821 or hill@oraclepr.co.uk
https://bregroup.com/buzz/do-consumers-want-a-more-sustainable-home/