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Mark leads way for eco-friendly homes

Laura Thistlethwaite
10/ 7/2008

A FORMER car engineer is leading the way for eco-friendly homes in south Manchester.

Mark Pickles is paving the route to green suburbia after switching from developing energy efficient cars to energy efficient homes.

He is working on a radical £825,000 new -build house in Didsbury that will stand like a green beacon on a small row of terraces in Osbourne Street.

In just eight years’ time every new house built in the UK must be so energy efficient it generates no harmful carbon whatsoever.

Mark also runs Shareshack, a Didsbury-based houseshare firm on Wilmslow Road, with business partner Mark Taylor.

He said: "A lot of developers want to build more energy efficient houses but the codes that are in place are unbelievably complex and it just puts many of them off. They do not know where to start.

"As an accredited assessor my aim is to give advice on the best and most economic way to raise the efficiency of new homes that are being built."

A complicated Code for Sustainable Homes gauges levels based on carbon emissions, ranging from one to six, with six being the no carbon ultimate goal.

Mark, who has previously renovated a pair of semis on Fog Lane, said: "Most new properties built today to strict building regulations would not even reach level one in the new code. A lot of work needs to be done if we are going to get anywhere near level four, never mind be zero carbon by 2016."

His latest project, on a plot that was once someone’s back garden, is for a modern-looking four bedroom family home with flexible living space.

There are extra layers of insulation and a giant tank is already sunk into the garden behind the house to capture rain water, which will be used to flush the toilets and fill the washing machine. Solar panels will heat the water and a wood burning stove will warm the open plan living areas.

Mark said: "People are going to be forced to think very differently about the sort of houses that they live in and the impact they have on the environment and the amount they cost to run.

"The key questions for the future is how developers, large and small, manage the cost of compliance and how much the end buyer is prepared to pay for it."

The house, currently at foundation level, is being sold off-plan with a guide of £825,000 and anyone interested should contact the agents Philip James Kennedy 0161 448 1234.