Endeavouring to cut the sheer volume of plastic used during construction, Accord Housing Association has committed to building ‘virtually plastic-free’ housing.

12 dwellings are anticipated to be built, using substitutes to fit kitchens, bathrooms & windows and lessening the amount of plastic used in building materials.

It is mentioned, that the building sector is accountable for over 60% of the resource use in Europe.

Additionally, the housing construction sector is responsible for 30% to 50% of material use.

According to Accord, the project is the first of its kind in the UK.

Funded by Interreg European Funding, it is part of the CHARM partnership (Circular Housing Asset Renovation & Management).

CHARM is part of a partnership that is made up of representatives from four nations;

• Belgium,
• France,
• The Netherlands,
• The UK.

With the target of encouraging a circular economy in the housing construction sector, each country is given a project to lead.

The assistant director of new businesses at Accord, Carl Taylor, said:

“We particularly want to remove the plastic from the kitchens and the bathrooms, because even though a house can last for a hundred years or more, the average kitchen and bathroom is changed every few years and we are keen to avoid generating plastic waste. This trans-European project will enable us to work with our European partners to identify plastic-free building products. We haven’t yet got a plastic-free solution to the electrics, for instance, but we will be challenging people in the building products manufacturing industry to help us find solutions.”

Utilizing the latest methods of construction, the dwellings will be developed by the housing association’s offsite manufacturing facility LoCal Homes.

The deputy chief executive at Accord, Alan Yates, added:

“Our closed timber framed houses have allowed us to build on low-carbon housing development and we have developed technology to build low-carbon houses – now it is about taking that technology a step forward to reduce the use of materials that are not good for the environment both during manufacture and construction and for years to come. This project will change how we manufacture our homes forever,”

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