Located on Edwards Street, the new homes are being built on the site of a former factory carpark and form part of a £25m regeneration scheme of affordable housing from Accord within Redditch town centre.

The virtually plastic free homes comprise of twelve 1 bedroom apartments which are being built by Accord using timber frame modern methods of construction from its LoCaL Homes factory.

Carl Taylor, Assistant Director New Business at Accord said: "We have been investing in low carbon housing solutions for many years. Our aim for these homes is to develop a low carbon, low plastic model for providing affordable homes on a large scale."

The new homes will have plastic free alternatives installed such as wooden kitchen units and window frames, wiring using a mineral based insulation rather than the usual plastic and solar thermal heating systems which will provide low running costs.

Carl added: "By reducing the use of materials that are not good for the environment both during manufacture and construction, we can change how we manufacture our homes, providing a more sustainable solution for future housing."

The project, which is the first of its kind in the UK, is the result of partnership working with Redditch Borough Council, and is part of the CHARM (Circular Housing Asset Renovation & Management) partnership, made up of representatives from four European countries: the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The project has received £1.2m EU funding from the INTERREG North West Europe funding partnership, allowing Accord to research the reduction and removal of plastic in a real world large scale project; paving the way for a future of plastic free construction.

Work is due to start on site in September 2020 and is expected to be completed by March 2022.