Sovereign Vale, a subsidiary of the Sovereign Group, was the first housing association in the UK to achieve accreditation to the international environmental management standard ISO14001. Sovereign Vale also recognises that it can be really difficult to have the chance to own a home which includes some of the latest eco-features, especially if this home is in a more remote rural area.
Sovereign Vale delivered the Uffington development back in late 2008, which was built to code level three for Sustainable Homes and used cutting edge environmental technology. This included NIBE air source heat pumps, which take heat from the air being vented out of the house to provide heating and hot water, and Eco Play units, which recycle water from the bath and washing machine back into the toilet. In July 2009 Sovereign Vale completed 14 new similar properties in Glebe Close, Shrivenham.
Sovereign Vale is also looking to use more renewable energy and have just completed the installation of a further 12 solar thermal systems in a group of “off gas” terraced homes in Stanford-in-the-Vale. As these homes were using electricity to heat their domestic hot water, this installation will go some way in reducing the household energy bills. Sovereign Vale will then be undertaking monitoring of these 12 installations over the next year to determine how much energy they have saved our tenants.
Dave Ingram, Environmental Co-Ordinating Officer for Sovereign Vale, noted, “Our new homes in rural areas show Sovereign Vale’s long-standing commitment to not only the environment, but also to maintaining our existing housing stock and building new homes in an environmentally responsible way.”
