Energy Savings Spotlight
Carpenters Yard, Thornwood
Today we are wandering through a neighbourhood that makes you look twice. At first glance, it plays the part of a familiar leafy street of terraced homes. But these don't look like the terraces you know. The timber facades are bright and friendly. The clay tones glow warmer in the daylight. The roofs sit in simple gables that feel quietly self-assured.
No fussy Victorian cornices.
No Edwardian ornament waiting to cause a leak.
Just clean lines and warm tones, softened by the rustle of a willow over a pond where the water does that gentle shiver in the breeze. Children charge through forest play spaces. Someone wheels a bicycle past the café, where the barista already knows your morning order.
It feels like the sort of neighbourhood Londoners romanticise on Rightmove at midnight.
And you're halfway down the street before dawns on you...This is a new homes neighbourhood.
Seeing as energy savings is such a hot topic, its worthwhile to wander through Carpenters Yard to see how a truly sustainable new homes neighbourhood can be done. In fact, Housing Secretary Steve Reed called Carpenters Yard, "what the future of British housing can and should look like."
Let's have a look around
What strikes you first is how calm it feels. Then you notice why. Everything here has been shaped with a kind of clear minded sustainability that doesn't need to shout the house down - it just feels right. Homes that store more carbon than they create. Rooms that stay warm without fuss. Materials that age gracefully rather than crumble under England's weather. Modern, clean lines constructed to avoid waste in a way that feels almost old fashioned, like someone finally remembered how resourcefulness works.
Zero Bills is possibly the coolest incentive for a new home: guaranteed 5 years of zero energy bills.* Imagine the relief of opening that first statement and seeing the effortlessly satisfying total of nothing. It's made possible through Carpenters Yard's absolutely ground-breaking design, which is the sort of futureproofing that feels indulgent today and essential tomorrow.
* Limits, terms & conditions apply - we wont' get into it here, but talk to our team and we'll walk you through it. And just to give you an idea, Zero Bills includes a generous Fair Use Allowance - around twice your home’s expected yearly usage.
Right, time for the sensible hat
And this is where the Londoner in us speaks up. Buying a home is always a heart and head equation, although the weighting shifts depending on the postcode. Sustainability has gone from being a pat-on-the-back to a very real source of added property value. Green features are already starting to earn premiums, and the gap keeps growing. (Read more about the advantage of green features here.)
Homes that run efficiently tend to hold their value with a certain swagger, because buyers are waking up to how expensive inefficiency can be.
Carpenters Yard gives you every tool in that futureproofing kit.
• The kitchens are beautifully crafted here in Britain with integrated energy efficient appliances, which means lower running costs from day one.
• The roofs carry solar panels as part of the development’s renewable microgrid, so each home generates and shares its own clean energy.
• The interiors have been shaped with careful attention to light, airflow and natural materials, creating spaces that feel calm to live in and are naturally efficient to heat and cool.
• Outside, the landscape has been designed to increase biodiversity rather than flatten it, which gives the whole neighbourhood a sense of breathing space.
• The materials chosen throughout are bio based and recyclable, which supports longevity, resilience and lower embodied carbon.
These are the kinds of features buyers will soon treat as non negotiable. They already give you lower bills and a healthier environment today. They also quietly build long term desirability in a market where efficiency, comfort and climate resilience only climb higher on the priority list each year. So while Carpenters Yard gives you pleasure right now, it also gives your future self a head start as the world catches up with the true value of green design. And after that, it gives something to the people who follow.
Welcomed to the neighbourhood
Carpenters Yard gets placemaking right, designed with extensive local insight. And it shows with how beautifully the neighbourhood intertwines with the personality of Thornwood. You get that rural calm. The fresh air and open spaces. Yet you can still make it into the city without needing to pack supplies. That combination alone could win you over.
Sustainability you can feel underfoot
What stays with you after a walk through is a feeling that all this sustainability talk is not theory. It is in the water. In the strength of the materials. In the way neighbours share tools at the Reuse and DIY Centre instead of buying more stuff destined for landfill. In children growing up with mud on their boots instead of touchscreen fingerprints. In the evening light settling over timber that looks better with each passing year.
You do not leave thinking this is some buzzy eco experiment.
You leave thinking of course this works.
Of course I save energy here.
Of course life feels brighter for it.
Because when a neighbourhood is shaped with care, sustainability feels natural.
Want to take a look around?
2, 3 & 4 bedroom homes starting from £500,000
Source: Admiral, Green Appeal (updated 28 April 2025)