Solar panels, heat pumps and bat boxes: retired residents are now part of the eco revolution

It’s not just homeowners who are making their properties more environmentally friendly; pension developments also do their bit for the planet.

Solar panels, electric vehicle charging points, triple-glazed windows, motion sensor lights and even living walls are being installed.

“Sustainability has long been at the heart of what we do,” says Nick Sanderson, CEO of Audley Group.

“We are using the latest construction technologies to build and operate a completely net-zero village in the coming years.”

At one of their newest sites, Audley Headley Court in Epsom, Surrey, the buildings face south so that solar panels receive maximum light and are wider to enable high-quality thermal insulation.

Audley also offers charging points for electric vehicles, as does the village of Binswood in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.

And it means resident Dick Turpin, 87, who is still involved in his engineering firm, can drive to work in his electric car.

“There are six charging points and seven to eight people use them, although many do not have a car because we are so close to the city center,” he says.

One and two-bedroom apartments start at £340,000 (audleyvillages.co.uk).

Inspired Villages, which has eight branches in England, opened Millfield Green, Britain’s first climate-neutral pension project in Bedfordshire, last year.

This will provide the blueprint for a further 25 sustainable communities to be completed by 2034.

At Millfield Green, all homes will have ground source heat pumps, solar panels, clean energy, electric car charging plus high-quality insulation, ventilation and triple-glazed windows.

One and two bedroom apartments cost from £341,000. (inspiredvillages.co.uk).

All Beechcroft retirement communities have electric car charging points and solar panels for outdoor lighting.

“We are already achieving a net biodiversity gain of 10 percent on our new sites with landscaping designed to attract insect life,” says Angela South, sales and marketing director.

Derek Connelly, who lives in Maryland Place, St Albans in Hertfordshire, is impressed with the heating.

‘The whole apartment is so well insulated that I don’t have to turn it on often. My heating costs are much lower than in my previous home,” he says.

The development is sold out, but in nearby Redclyffe Place, Harpenden, a two-bedroom house is for sale for £1,095,000 and a three-bedroom duplex for £1,475,000. (beechcroft.co.uk) McCarthy Stone works with Wildlife Trust Consultancies to improve the natural environment.

Future developments will have wildlife-friendly features such as bee stones and swifts and bat boxes.

There will also be a green roof on the Oakwood development in Barnet, North London, and a living wall on Walter House, Chelmsford, Essex.

The company has switched to 100 percent renewable energy at all locations. At the Moreton-in-Marsh development in Gloucestershire, replacing corridor lighting with motion sensors and an energy-saving monthly newsletter for homeowners led to a 58 per cent drop in electricity use in a month.

One and two-bedroom apartments in Chelmsford start from £299,000 and one-bedroom apartments in Moreton-in-Marsh start from £199,995 (mccarthyandstone.co.uk).

Even little things can make a difference. At Castle View in Windsor, Berkshire, which has an electric vehicle charging point in the underground car park and a composter for garden/food waste, even old egg cartons are sent to Windsor Foodshare to be filled with eggs for families in need.

A resident collects old newspapers for local charity Swan Lifeline to use as a nest.

One and two-bedroom apartments start at £375,000 (castleviewwindsor.co.uk).