First home in Climate Innovation District completes
The way in which people live in city centres in the future, as well as the way the construction industry needs to adapt, was discussed at MIPIM today, as Citu announced that its first home on the Climate Innovation District (CID) in Leeds has been completed in its on-site factory.
Sustainable urban developer Citu said the exterior of the first townhouse was successfully delivered last week as part of the 317-unit first phase of CID. Next week, the first home owners will sign contracts for the building. Practical completion is expected later this year.
“There has been a resurgence in city centre living,” said Chris Thompson, managing director of Citu.
“Families and people downsizing are moving into the city centre because of the successful delivery of facilities and amenities including schools and healthcare. ”
Jonathan Wilson, development manager at Citu, said it was exciting to have reached the milestone, adding: “It’s about creating a residential offering on the South Bank. There are also a number of non-residential elements, including public realm; making it a more family friendly offering.”
The district, which straddles the River Aire, will feature more than 500 low carbon Citu Homes including apartments and houses, alongside manufacturing, leisure, offices and climate resilient public realm in the heart of city’s landmark South Bank regeneration project. It is a phased delivery over three years.
The Citu home will be up to ten times more energy efficient than a standard modern UK home and is being built in a factory-built technique allowing Leeds-based Citu to manufacture the homes on a mass-scale to create a climate conscious solution to the UK’s housing crisis.
The home has been developed by Citu in partnership with Leeds Beckett University. A mix of 1, 2, 3 and 4-bedroom homes, based around a Scandinavian model of medium density urban housing, will be manufactured at its purpose-built on-site factory, Citu Works.
Thompson added: “As an industry, we are looking to deliver and drive change. The construction industry is still using building methods that were developed hundreds of years ago.
“One real change is how we invest in the production and digital technology to improve the efficiency.
“We made a decision to deliver the CID from our on-site factory and that’s not for the feint-hearted. It requires a very different approach.”
The way in which the firm interacts with customers has to also had to change, he added, and Citu have invested in virtual reality technology in order to give people a vision of the homes and the site.
Around 80 new jobs were created at the one-site factory, Citu Works. Thompson added: “We are trying to prepare people in having the skills of tomorrow, getting them ready for the future of construction.
“That involves taking it down a skill level and it’s more about assembly rather than learning a certain craft skill. That allows productivity levels to rise and it’s how the industry becomes more efficient.
“But I think the single biggest change is about culture; developing a collaborative, can-do culture. When the industry is siloed, it can get very adversarial.
Wilson added: “It feels like we are starting a new chapter. One of the purposes of our business is to create a ripple effect.”
Once fully operational, Citu Works has the capacity to produce up to 750 low carbon homes each year for future developments across the UK, reducing the carbon footprint of the construction process by 24,000 tonnes annually.
The firm is looking for further brownfield sites to develop around the City Region and beyond. Thompson added: “It’s really important that we continue to keep the factory busy. Unlike traditional developments, we can’t turn construction on and off.”
The first phase of the district, which was been part-funded by a £7.7m loan from the Leeds City Region Revolving Investment Fund (RIF), will comprise 121 homes and 191 apartments designed by Swedish architects, White Arkitekter.
