BOOTS are on the ground at a new affordable housing site in York.

Demolition work has begun at Ordnance Lane, off Fulford Road, which sees three blocks of early 20th Century houses demolished to make way for a major new ‘Passivhaus’ affordable housing scheme.

Whilst some campaigners were upset to see the heritage buildings, the York Civic Trust were largely in favour of the project. 

The original scheme was conceived under the former City of York Council Liberal Democrat administration and changed under the current Labour administration’s plans - moving it to 100 per cent affordable housing from its previous 40 per cent.

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The 101 new-build homes are all designed to meet Passivhaus standards which means that they will feature triple glazing, good quality insulation, and solar panels.

Speaking in February, Cllr Michael Pavlovic, Executive Member for Housing, said: “These revised plans meet our commitment to give more residents access to high-quality, affordable housing which supports good health and our climate change ambitions across the city. 

“The original site proposals, co-designed with local residents, won the National Housing Design Award 2023. We hope you will continue your involvement and help us build a thriving new community by commenting on these plans before the end of March.”

Cllr Jenny Kent, Executive Member for Environment, said: “All the homes on this exciting site will be zero-carbon in use. Residents’ low energy needs for heating, hot water and lighting will be met on site by renewable energy generation measures such as solar panels.  

“The new plans propose wide and car-free shared routes to connect with the wider neighbourhood. Increased cycle and cargo bike parking spaces will help promote healthier, cleaner and more affordable travel choices at this well-connected site.

“Increased green space will help on-site drainage and create places to grow food, play outdoors and help build the community.”