English Partnerships expands Carbon Challenge

English Partnerships wants to develop three more sites as part of its Carbon Challenge project - despite predicting more builders will drop out of its green schemes.

The national regeneration agency is looking at sites in the south of England where it hopes homes can be developed to level six of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

EP policy and economics director Steve Carr said it was watching the housing market closely to determine if it was economically viable to expand the scheme.

"There still seems to be some aspiration among builders to do real eco-friendly developments and not prototypes. Concentrating on being innovative is a way for builders to have a market advantage when the market recovers," he said.

The expansion hopes come despite a difficult month ahead for existing Carbon Challenge projects, with shortlists of preferred bidders to be announced for sites at Wigan, Bickershaw and Brodsworth in May.

EP confirmed four companies, which it declined to name, have submitted expressions of interest in the Brodsworth scheme to build 500 homes on former coalfield land.

But Carr predicted this shortlist would be further refined as bidders dropped out of the race.

He said: "We do not expect all the people who start to be there at the end. We are going through a competitive dialogue process where companies will withdraw when they see the site is not for them."

A project to build 450 zero-carbon homes at Peterborough has been hit by dropouts after Cross Key Homes and Galliford Try, One Peterborough and Barratt Homes walked away because the job was too expensive.

The deadline for remaining firms Gladedale Group, p Pod (Morris Homes, Gentoo and Apollo) and Gleeson Homes and Stewart Milne Group to submit their final bids has been delayed a week to May 9.