Larkfleet teaches school children about sustainable living

Bourne-based housebuilder and developer Larkfleet Group recently gave 90 school children from Bourne Abbey Primary School a tour around the company’s Sustainability Demonstration House in order to teach them about sustainable living.

The timber-framed three-bedroom house, located next to company’s headquarters in Bourne, remains only part-built to demonstrate how a home can be constructed to meet the requirements of Level 3 and Level 4 of the government’s Code for Sustainable Homes.

Some parts of the structure, such as sections of walls, floors and ceilings, have been left unfinished to show how it is possible to combine different building techniques and energy-saving technologies to meet demanding environmental standards without excessive cost.

During the tour, youngsters were shown water-saving and energy-saving technologies such as rainwater harvesting and air source heat pumps that are fitted in the house to demonstrate the variety of ways people can live more sustainably.

Other technologies demonstrated in the house include photovoltaic panels which produce direct current electricity from the sun, which can be used to recharge batteries or power equipment.

Larkfleet is currently updating the Sustainability Demonstration House with additional technologies such as replacing the current low energy lighting with LED lighting, improving the photovoltaic system to demonstrate how it can work with the ‘feeder tariffs’ that allow householders to sell electricity to the grid, and improving the controls on the water harvesting system.

Larkfleet managing director Karl Hick said: “The use of the technologies in the Sustainability Demonstration House show that environmentally sustainable living can be accessible to all. The schoolchildren saw first-hand how a more sustainable living situation is possible. This is incredibly important as they are all future house owners and will have to make their own choices about sustainable living – something the Sustainability Demonstration House is promoting now and for the future.”