Sue is a semi-retired charity manager from Gloucester. She approached Ecology to help her build a new ecological property in the garden of her existing property, where she could live with her husband and her mother.

Sue wanted to build a fully sustainable home – sustainable in terms of the materials used, the cost of heating and lighting, a low maintenance garden, and wheelchair accessibility.

Ecology provided mortgage finance to support the build from the start. A small scale development mortgage enabled the works to be carried out, with staged payments as the project progressed. You can see the progress of the build here.

The property, now complete, is an oval shaped two bedroom home, with high levels of insulation, a sedum roof, triple glazed windows, solar panels, rainwater harvesting, and a whole house heat exchange system. Sue now lives in the property with her family and they intend to stay there for the rest of their lives.