Hanham Hall in Bristol, a 6.1 hectare former hospital site owned by English Partnerships, claims to be the first site in the country to be suitable for development under the agency’s Carbon Challenge.

The Carbon Challenge calls on developers to achieve the highest level (Level 6) of the government’s new Code for Sustainable Homes to demonstrate that zero carbon homes, combined with building design, are economically viable on a commercial scale.

Housebuilders have been invited to submit expressions of interest to build England’s first large scale development of zero-carbon homes, as regeneration agency English Partnerships published its pre-qualifying questionnaire (PPQ) for a 150-home site in Bristol. The PQQ is the first step in a process which will end in the summer with the appointment of a preferred developer for the site.

Jayne Lomas, the project manager at English Partnerships responsible for the Carbon Challenge, said, “The government has made it clear that all new homes will need to be zero carbon from 2016 and the Carbon Challenge will help demonstrate to the construction industry how this can be achieved. And we need to start now - 2016 is less than a decade away – and nobody should underestimate the challenge of achieving zero carbon.”

Developers completing the PQQ will be shortlisted to around six organisations that will be invited to submit a more substantive submission in response to a detailed design brief for the site.