Construction of second ground-breaking eco-friendly apartment scheme gets underway as Eric Wright Construction begins work on 100 affordable, sustainable, one and two-bedroomed Passivhaus homes, on Peru Street in the heart of Salford.
Willohaus, which was granted planning permission by Salford City Council last summer, forms part of the £2.5bn Crescent Salford regeneration, a partnership between Salford City Council, the University of Salford and ECF (formerly The English Cities Fund).
The apartments are being delivered by ECF, a public-private partnership between three of the UK’s leading regeneration and investment organisations, Homes England, Legal & General and Muse. Salford housing association Salix Homes, which owns 8,000 homes across Salford, is the housing partner for Willohaus.
Willohaus will be the second collection of sustainable, affordable apartments that ECF has brought forward in Salford with Salix Homes following the success of Greenhaus, the largest Passivhaus affordable scheme in the North West, which was also built by Eric Wright Construction. This pioneering Passivhaus certified development was completed last month (March 2024) and delivered 96 affordable homes. Both projects are designed by renowned architects, Buttress.
Designed to provide a comfortable environment for residents, Passivhaus buildings can reduce energy bills by up to 90% compared to traditional housing stock, helping residents to reduce their fuel bills while cutting carbon footprints. This is achieved through a whole-building approach to efficient, high-quality construction, which is independently tested and verified.
Commenting on the start on site Steve Reid, pre-construction director, from Eric Wright Construction said: “To start work immediately on a second affordable Passivhaus scheme is great news for the team and will deliver much needed affordable, energy efficient homes for people in Salford. We’re excited to apply all of the learnings from the successful delivery of Greenhaus on this second scheme and look forward to making rapid progress in the coming months.”
Joe Stockton, Senior Development Manager for ECF, added: “We’re pleased to be continuing our partnership with Salix Homes, following our success delivering low-energy, Passivhaus-standard homes at nearby Greenhaus. What has previously been done on a relatively small-scale, we are now looking to upscale, making sustainable homes accessible and affordable for a wider range of customers.
“We’re looking forward to working with our partners to create a vibrant, well-connected neighbourhood at Crescent Salford, starting with our Willohaus community.”
L to R: Harry Molyneux (Eric Wright), Liam Turner (Salix), Jess Sharples (Eric Wright), Simon Hourihan (Muse-ECF) and Jonathan Wasp (Eric Wright)