Tree-mendous Efficiency from Strand Homes Supported By Bank of Ireland

 

From left Niall Devlin, Head of Business Banking, Bank of Ireland UK, Ciaran Lavery, Senior Business Manager, Bank of Ireland UK, Jonny Dobson, Director, Strand Homes and Jennifer Mitchell, Sales & Marketing Manager, Strand Homes

 

Over £70m is set to be invested by development company Strand Homes as it continues its seven year build programme at the multi award winning High Trees in Donaghadee, with funding supported by Bank of Ireland UK.

With 80 homes completed and occupied at High Trees, the Strand Homes team continue to grow their sustainable ambitions with a series of additional energy efficiency measures, including solar panels, a 5kw battery and an electric car charging point fitted in all recent homes.

Jennifer Mitchell of Strand Homes says, “Building sustainable homes with a community connection is the driving purpose behind Strand Homes and we are delighted to have the support of Bank of Ireland in delivering our vision at the High Trees site.

“We have worked closely with Bank of Ireland to facilitate the innovations and enhancements across our High Trees homes and we are delighted to have their continued support for our future plans.”

“For us it’s about more than house building, it’s about creating a development that evolves as a community both in the development and across the local area.

“We’ve been achieving that in a number of different and unexpected ways including investing in an on-site plant nursery so we can grow our own plants on site.  This secures the supply of the recommended plants in line with the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan of which we were the first residential developer in Northern Ireland to join.  We’ve had lots of residents and local school children come along for events at the nursery, aiming to establish a Community Garden which will be a great legacy in the development long after our works have finished.”

“At Strand Homes we genuinely want our customers to be the beneficiaries of what we are doing and this is in terms of the community aspect as well as the green initiatives.  The feedback from the solar installation has been brilliant:

“We moved in on the 6th May 2022 and the meter hasn’t moved. To date, we haven’t used any electricity from the grid and couldn’t be more delighted. Especially given today’s prices, we feel so fortunate to have this included in our specifications. We even decided to upgrade from standard six panels offered by Strand Homes to 12. It’s been so efficient and cost effective”

Ciaran Lavery, Senior Business Manager at Bank of Ireland UK says, “We are really pleased to support the Strand Homes team with the High Trees development, and very much support the company’s ambition to build sustainable homes, communities and connections.

“At Bank of Ireland we work closely with our customers to help them meet their ambitions and deliver further economic and social value.  We look forward to working with the Strand Homes team as the High Trees site and their development programmes continue to grow.”

Based in Belfast, Strand Homes is focussed on building homes with community connections where homeowners love where they live.  The company, which began in 2011 has committed to the construction of over 300 homes at High Trees Donaghadee and 46 homes at Ferndene in East Belfast.