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20
Oct 2021
Taylor Wimpey responds to TV report of "nightmare" Harrogate new build
Taylor Wimpey has promised to work with a Harrogate homeowner who says her dream home turned into a "nightmare" due to draughts and poor insulation at a new build housing estate on Harlow Hill.
Channel 4 News featured a report on whether the government's Build Back Better agenda is good for the environment.
They filmed part of it at the 124-home Harlow Green development that is opposite RHS Harlow Carr off Crag Lane. It was built by Taylor Wimpey, one of the UK's largest housebuilders.
The development was initially refused by Harrogate Borough Council which said in 2014 the homes would score poorly against the council's environmental objectives and would have a "detrimental and incongruous" impact on the rural landscape. The council's decision was overturned on appeal in 2015.
Homes have been sold there for over £600,000 and the reporter questioned whether this price tag means they are built to the highest environmental standards.
But an energy-efficiency consultant showed one of the homes was badly insulated, cold, and potentially a fire risk.
'A nightmare'
Marion, 82, bought a home on the estate hoping it would be her "dream place" but it turned out to be a "nightmare".
Her daughter said the house was so badly insulated that she was forced to wrap up warm with extra clothes.
She said:
The energy consultant used smoke to show viewers how heat seeps out of the house under the windowsills.
The consultant also used a heat-seeking device that showed heat leaking out of the lining of the walls.
Marion's daughter said she was so concerned about the potential of fire spread due to the airflow, she bought her mother a fire blanket that she slept beside.
She then moved out and is currently asking Taylor Wimpey to buy the home back off her.
Read more:
- Housing Investigation: land the size of 700 football pitches lost to new housing
- Green Shoots: Harrogate’s most environmentally-friendly house?
'Clear environmental strategy'
Taylor Wimpey told the Stray Ferret it is working with the homeowner featured in the Channel 4 News report for a "fair outcome".
A spokesperson said:
A Harrogate Borough Council spokesperson said its Conservative councillor and cabinet member for planning Tim Myatt, is writing to Housing Secretary, Michael Gove to ask that carbon reduction is considered in future national planning and building regulation changes.
Net-zero
Environmental charity Zero Carbon Harrogate has published a roadmap to 2030 outlining, among other things, how housebuilding needs to be improved in the district.
It proposes all homes are built to innovative Passivhaus standards and are heated with air or ground-source heat pumps.
In May, the Stray Ferret visited a Passivhaus on Bogs Lane.
Developed in Germany in the 1990s, Passivhaus is seen as a game-changer for low-carbon housing.
It’s an innovative design code that prioritises insulation so that a home doesn’t need any heating or cooling at all, resulting in minimal energy bills.
Homeowner Tim Larner said:
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