Our partners
Charlie Luxton Design - Team
Greencore Homes
Greencore Homes are passionate about providing sustainable, long term economic, societal and environmental value, and aim to be a catalyst for positive change.
The company was set up in 2013, and is now majority owned and funded by M&G – an international savings and investments company. This relationship allows us to make longer term strategic decisions.
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Our purpose is to accelerate the global transition to low carbon living. Our vision is to lead the housebuilding industry in the delivery of Climate Positive homes, and our mission is to scale up our business across the country and deliver over 10,000 new Climate Positive homes by 2035.
At our Bicester factory, we manufacture our Biond panels, which are closed timber frame panels insulated with a mix of wood fibre, hemp and lime. Those panels are integrated into a timber frame superstructure on site which can be erected in a matter of days. They minimise the use of materials like cement, steel and bricks so each superstructure locks up more carbon than it emits.
Our homes are airtight and very energy efficient. Each home is powered by electricity rather than gas and we utilise renewable energy sources targeted to supply 100% of the energy required in use. This combination of locking up carbon in construction and renewable energy provision in use is what we mean by Climate Positive.
SNRG
SNRG were formed in 2018, and are working hard to help communities with the net zero transition problems. With the government’s target to build an additional 8.4 million homes by 2050, it will be very hard to hit net zero by 2050.
We design, fund, build and operate the next generation all-electric solution. It’s a synergy of locally integrated electrical distribution, renewable generation, smart storage, heating, cooling and EV charging solutions.
We are backed by Antin, a private equity firm and centrica, an international energy services and solutions business
By maximising the onsite consumption of locally generated renewable energy, a SNRG SmartGrid can meaningfully reduce cost, carbon and complexity.
“We were so pleased to be able to support the Hook Norton community–led housing project early on. Their aim to develop affordable and low impact housing with a smart microgrid and renewables at its core is a great example of what we hope to see more of in the future.”
Dr Barbara Hammond, CEO Low Carbon Hub
The Low Carbon Hub is a social enterprise that’s out to prove we can meet our energy needs in a way that’s good for people and the planet.
We do this by developing community–owned renewable energy across Oxfordshire for the benefit of local economies and communities.
To us, community energy needs to be a fundamental part of the national energy transition. This means creating projects owned or controlled by communities, which aim to reduce energy demand or to supply renewable energy to power local buildings.
Our ambition is for the whole of Oxfordshire to be powered by an interconnected series of smart microgrids centred around multiple small scale, community controlled renewable energy schemes.
We also have a strong emphasis on innovation at the Low Carbon Hub, working with a variety of project partners to catalyse system change and move community energy forward.
The UK’s electricity system is changing, and we want to play a central role in developing that smarter, flexible electricity system of the future in Oxfordshire. For instance, Project LEO, for which Low Carbon Hub is a project partner, is one of the most ambitious and innovative smart grid trials that has been conducted in the UK.
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Hook Norton forms part of Project LEO’s nascent Smart and Fair Neighbourhood programme, that aims to provide opportunities to put renewable energy generation at the heart of a smarter, low carbon, more locally focused energy system.
Cherwell District Council
“As a district council committed to delivering affordable housing, we strongly support community-led housing initiatives. This approach supports our ambition to bring forward more environmentally friendly homes, reflects local need, and will deliver much needed, high quality housing in a rural part of our district”.
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Cllr John Donaldson, Cherwell District Council's lead member for housing
We would like to say a huge Thank You to the following organisations who have helped and supported HNCLT to develop our plans to build affordable and sustainable community-led homes in Hooky:
Oxfordshire Community Land Trust
Pixel Barn Studios
Homes England
Oxfutures
ERDF
Charlie Luxton Design - architectural design
Charlie Luxton Design (CLD) creates architecture for the 21st century: designs that respond to local materials, traditions and climate. We have extensive experience in designing and delivering sustainable buildings. For us this means more than building energy efficient schemes with a low carbon footprint. We believe that true sustainability means creating buildings that are loved, and that only places that are valued in this way will last. Our aim is always to create buildings that look beautiful, age gracefully, and don’t cost the earth to construct or maintain.
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CLD was established in Hook Norton in 2005 and has grown to a team of twelve. We undertake both refurbishment and new build projects, mainly in the residential sector where we aim to achieve high levels of sustainability wherever the budget allows.
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Over the years CLD, in conjunction with Charlie’s television profile, has built up many contacts within the sustainable building materials and technologies sector allowing us to regularly obtain preferential prices. We have also built up many long-term working relationships with timber frame and system build companies. We would seek to bring these contacts and benefits to bear on this project.
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We are increasingly looking to bring our sustainability design experience to buildings procured and used by the wider community. To further this ambition CLD has recruited several architects with experience in the educational/public sectors from larger Oxford-based practices.
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As a practice we try to focus our work on local projects where our time can be spent on design and management rather than travel.
Low Carbon Hub
