Social housing kitchen manufacturer, Rixonway Kitchens has been selected to take part in a pioneering ‘Green House’ project to demonstrate how family homes can be refurbished in a way that reduces their impact on the environment as well making them cheaper to run.

Introduced to the project by Ridgeons independent builders merchants, West Yorkshire based Rixonway Kitchens was chosen on the strength of its environmental credentials by Huntingdonshire District Council.

The Council has teamed up with the Building Research Establishment (BRE) as part of its ‘Rethinking Refurbishment’ campaign with the aim of demonstrating how typical family homes can be refurbished affordably and easily, not only to reduce carbon emissions but to be cheaper, comfortable and more efficient to run.

New build properties have stringent regulations for meeting environmental and sustainability standards, however refurbishing homes to the same standards can be difficult due to the nature of some older properties.

The two ‘Green Houses’ have been refurbished to the highest quality environmental standards and are being used as best practice examples for other social housing providers and building contractors. Using suppliers with high sustainability credentials such as Rixonway in refurbishment projects ensures environmental standards are maintained.

Serious about reducing its environmental impact Rixonway has created a new recycling contract, allowing it to confidently claim that no waste from the plant goes to landfill.

The material used in its manufacturing process is accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council accreditation (FSC). The accreditation recognises that the timber is derived from managed, sustainable sources and can be traced literally back to its roots.

Rixonway salvages 100% of the wood waste from its production process. All wood waste produced during the manufacturing of the kitchen furniture is collected and fed into a state of the art wood waste system. The system quickly and effectively grinds the raw material down and produces a fine, sawdust like residue which is then used to generate biomass fuel.

Further, Rixonway has become the largest organisation in the UK to install the Dust Control Systems ‘Ecogate System’, dramatically reducing its carbon footprint. It expects to save around 23% of its electricity usage on site equating to approximately 400,000kg of co2 per year.

Rixonway Operations Director Nick Greenall said: “Rixonway Kitchens is delighted to have been selected as the kitchen supplier to the Green House project due to its high environmental and sustainability credentials. We have worked hard to ensure that Rixonway Kitchens leads the industry with its environmental initiatives which recently resulted in us being able to confidently state that 100% of our waste is recycled.”

Councilor Jonathan Gray, whose executive responsibilities include environment said: “The Green Houses are an essential demonstration and educational resource for home owners, housing providers, tradesmen, local suppliers and schools. If you would like to see the transformation and learn all about the environmental improvements you could make to your home or business I would urge you to book a visit.”