Climate Action Fund

April 2024: CFG tap into funding for local farm & fishery for ecosystem restoration project.

Pushing Modular Construction Boundaries

June 2024: RIBA 4, Net Zero farm house collaboration with Hemspan.

Energy Innovation on retro-fit project

April 2023: Proof of concept attempting Passiv house status on C14th farmhouse.

Greenhouse upgrade

April 2022: Analysis of future trends & options for re-purposing large scale greenhouses.

Net Zero Design in Suffolk

Dec 2022: CFG engaged to help plan Paragraph 80 projects in Suffolk.

Energy and Innovation

Ongoing : Inter-seasonal storage solutions for Paragraph 80 and 134 projects.

Net Zero Housing Project

Nov 2023: Systems integration for carbon net zero.

Energy and Ecology Innovation

Nov 2023: CFG joins multi-disciplinary team designing a P84 dwelling & equestrian area.

New Zero-Carbon Service Station

July 2023: CFG collaborating on Zero-Carbon design of Stannington Services, A1

Sustainable Energy Solutions

June 2023: CFG is proud to work on Neven Sidor’s RIBA award winning ‘Ponds Rough’

New Team Member

May 2023: We're excited to welcome Prue to the team to manage business operations

"The first commercial house builder offering carbon neutral housing"

Securing low home energy bills might start with thorough insulation and harnessing high efficiency heating and lighting... but why stop there when energy bills could be zero?

That was the vision of Carbon Free Group member Electric Corby, and they've started down that road by creating the first "Zero Energy Bill" (ZEB) homes at Priors Hall Park, Corby.

The logic is undeniable. According to the latest Government figures, improving energy efficiency could increase a house's value by anything from £16,000 upwards for smaller homes alone. That returns the capital investment immediately, with annual fuel savings for years to come.

But at Corby, they have gone even further. By developing a series of new homes that look like a traditional semi-detached house; but beneath the surface, contain well insulated walls and lofts, complete with an array of hybrid PVT (Photovoltaic) panels.

Each panel has a single solar collector which produces electricity, heating and domestic hot water. These are ultra low maintenance and unlike wind turbines, are virtually "fit and forget". What's more, all the "workings" are hidden in the roof space.

In addition, each home has a state-of-the-art home energy automation system which is remotely programmable. The PVT panels are also connected to the electricity grid to achieve maximum payback from the Feed-in Tariff on every unneeded kilowatt of energy.

When we started developing this project, average home energy bills were around £1,000 per annum. The latest figures suggest this is over £1,300 now and will hit £1,500 with the latest energy price rises. With the ZEB homes the average occupier will see a net energy bill for the year of between minus £20 and plus £50... but Electric Corby guaranteeing zero bills for the first two years.

Over the months and years ahead we'll be developing this platform - and looking to collaborate with developers, designers, funders and housing providers to bring our Zero Energy Bill vision to life for as many Corby residents as possible.

The Carbon Free Group is now expanding upon the success of the first ZEB development of 10 houses and its members have joined forces through the Carbon Free Housing to develop and deliver a further 50 homes. We believe this will be the first commercial house builder in the UK specifically set up to deliver carbon neutral housing!

This really is the shape of the future...