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Sustainable housebuilder and developer Larkfleet Group (www.larkfleetgroup.co.uk) has built a single-storey timber-framed house in just two days – and then taken it down again.

The house was the centrepiece of Business Focus, a recent business exhibition held in Peterborough. Larkfleet used the event to showcase not just the speed and ease with which timber-framed housing can be erected but also the wide range of energy-saving technologies which the group can apply to these homes.

The frame for the house was designed, manufactured and erected by group company Kestrel Timber Frame. It was deliberately left only partly finished so that visitors could see details of the cladding and insulation which permits Larkfleet homes to be built to Level 3 or 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

Within and around the house other Larkfleet Group companies and partners demonstrated the contribution they can make to maximising the sustainability of new homes.

Ian Greenfield, operations director at Larkfleet’s renewable building products merchant Eco Building Products, said: “The technologies we demonstrated at the exhibition are among the most cost-effective available for new commercial and residential properties and also for refurbishment projects.

“They included solar thermal water heating and photovoltaic power generation and ground source and air source heat pumps.

“There was also an electric car charging point for those thinking of saving on petrol, plus innovations to stretch the imagination and change the way most of us think about day-to-day energy and fuel consumption.”

Representatives of the technology suppliers were on hand so that visitors could speak to the experts and find out more about making company or domestic energy savings.

In addition to Kestrel Timber Frame, Larkfleet Group companies taking part in the Business Focus exhibition included:

• Eco Building Products, which supplies a wide range of sustainability solutions to housebuilders, contractors and others.
• Larkfleet Renewables which offers social housing providers, private landlords and homeowners a one stop shop for both Green Deal and ECO funded energy saving measures in housing and commercial buildings.
• Lark Energy which develops and installs a range of renewable energy solutions. Lark Energy specialises in solar photovoltaic (PV) systems ranging from large-scale solar farms to on-roof commercial systems and multi-roof housing projects.
• Larkfleet Homes which designs and builds energy-efficient housing for both the private market and social landlords.