Third time lucky as JV revives £12m eco-village scheme

An abandoned “eco-village” scheme of 91 zero-carbon homes in Plymouth has been resurrected for a third time by developers, three years after it was given the green light.

The £12m scheme - first approved in November 2012 - has been rescued after joint venture developer CornerstoneZED finally bought the site.

The project originally had a planned start date of January 2013, with a view to the first homes being available that summer. But it was put on hold after the joint venture - which comprises investor Cornerstone Assets and ZEDprojects, which itself is a joint venture between Charles Everard Project Management and ZEDfactory - put the scheme on hold in May 2014.

It was later revived in October that year and Kier Construction landed the contractor role, only for the contract to be cancelled when the project was again shelved by the developers at the end of last year.

Now the scheme has been rescued once again by the joint venture developers CornerstoneZED with the purchase of the site. Zero C, a subsidiary of property developer Places for People, has been lined up to develop the “eco-village”.

Plymouth city councillor Tudor Evans said: “The development has been in the planning stages for some time but now that we have sold the land to CornerstoneZED working with Places for People, the project can really get going, which is fantastic news.”

Construction is now expected to start this spring and be completed within three years, with the first homes due to go on sale in 2017.

The development, which includes an office and a playground as well as the 91 homes in both houses and flats, will be powered by rooftop solar panels.

The homes were originally meant to be built to level six of the Code for Sustainable Homes, the highest category for energy efficient housing, but it is unclear what level they will be built to under the BRE’s replacement scheme, the Home Quality Mark.