A planned modular housing development in Cullompton has been shortlisted for four awards in the South West’s Construction Excellence Awards.

Built in partnership with innovative, modular house builder Zed Pods Ltd, the zero carbon homes are set to be installed on a council-owned site on the St Andrew’s estate in Cullompton.

The approved plans will provide 3 one-bed and 3 two-bed homes, each with their own car parking spaces. The homes will be completed with triple glazing and solar panels, have their own private communal green space as well as separate storage for residents’ bins and bicycles. A mural on the building has also been set out in the plans, which will seek design ideas from the local community.

The development is set to be carbon-neutral, making this one of the first social housing projects of this type within the district and has been shortlisted in the following four categories:

• Innovation Award
• MMC Award (Modern Methods of Construction)
• Residential property of the year
• Net Zero Award

Mike Lowman, Operations Manager for Building Services, said:

“It is a great achievement to see that the high quality design and innovation behind this development has already been recognised by professionals in the construction industry. I am looking forward to seeing how the awards progress but really the best reward will be seeing our tenants enjoy these new homes and the benefit it will bring to our ambitious plans to become carbon neutral.”

The awards are being run by Constructing Excellence South West which forms part of the Constructing Excellence Regional Partnership (CERP) and exists to improve industry performance in order to produce a better built environment.

Tom Northway, Chairman of Zed Pods, said:

“We are all delighted to be recognised for the hard work our in-house design team in partnership with Mid-Devon District Council has achieved. It has been a fantastic example of collaboration with all stakeholders – from concept design to stakeholder engagement and planning approval.

“This zero-carbon project has now moved to the built phase, and once completed it will be an exemplar social housing scheme with very best design in terms of environmental performance and internal specifications.”

The next stage of the awards will be a presentation to the judges in May before the final winners are announced in September.