BSBA Architects and Middleton Hall Retirement Village were thrilled to receive a Silver Green Apple Award for the Built Environment & Architectural Heritage for the Waterside retirement development. The prestigious International Green Apple Awards were launched in 1994 by the Green Organisation and have become established as one of the most popular environmental campaigns in the world. BSBA Architects competed with well over 100 other nominees from different countries and was presented with the Silver Award at a ceremony in the super-sustainable venue The Crystal, in London.
This award comes just a few months after the same project was featured on the Zero Carbon Hub as an excellent example of zero carbon living. The Waterside is believed to be the first zero-carbon retirement development in the UK, offering 37 spacious, carbon-neutral, independent-living bungalows within the picturesque grounds of the award-winning Middleton Hall Retirement Village. Each super-insulated bungalows is fitted with wood-burning stoves, triple-glazed windows and benefits from electricity generated by on-site solar panels.
The innovative BSBA Architects designs address the reputation of low-carbon buildings for only delivering theoretical energy savings. The development is already using less energy than is generated on site, resulting in homeowners receiving zero-energy bills in their first year – with some being handed back more than £125!
The Waterside creates an excellent sustainable model for care villages and healthy, green living in older age. At a time when the UK requires housing stock to be freed up for families, The Waterside is helping to change the perception of retirement villages, offering older residents bright, cheerful and dignified homes in a supportive community that prolongs independent living.