A MAN who built and owns one of the most environmentally-friendly homes in the country has spoken of his delight after winning a prestigious award.
Mike Coe from Cropthorne put his name in the history books after being the first ever overall winner of the Intelligently Green Awards run by Wychavon District Council.
Mr Coe’s green efforts were rewarded when a special awards ceremony was held at the district council’s main offices in Pershore’s Civic Centre after his unique project saw him build a home with minimal demands to the environment.
His house, titled The Autonomous House, has no heating of any kind, is super-insulated and completely water neutral through the use of harvested rainwater and composting toilets. The use of renewable energy makes the house carbon negative.
Other winners on the night included Lisa Whelan from Evesham’s Jelly Pickle Jame store who started a new venture turning fruit, which would otherwise go to waste, into jam and Alan Miller for his part in the film Greening the Vale which shows what
people are doing well environmentally in the mode of transport.
Hill and Moor Parish Council were also praised for their street lighting upgrade which saw them replace its outdated lights with new low energy LED lamps – resulting in reduced energy consumption.
Mr Coe said: “I’m very pleased to have won this award and I wasn’t expecting it.
“There were times during this project when I was stood on a freezing cold building site covered in dust wondering why I hadn’t just bought a picturesque old vicarage somewhere.
“But we saw the project through to the end and according to the plan and we now have a very, very low energy building.
“It’s great that all the hard work has been recognised in this way and I hope the award and the publicity will prove to be
influential in helping people to see what can be achieved here in Wychavon.”
Coun Emma Stokes, responsible for economy, regeneration and flooding at Wychavon District Council, added: “Our judges had
a tough enough time selecting the shortlisted entries and an even more challenging debate was had as we discussed the
possible winners from such a high standard of green projects.”
Visit www.intelligently-green.com for more information about the awards and the nominees.
