Children from Southwick Primary School have seen a montage of colourful artwork they produced installed at the entrance of a new Westlea Housing development!

Tidestone, part of the GreenSquare housing group, has recently started work to build twelve new homes at Frome Road in Southwick and teamed up with the local school to raise awareness of sustainable design and development.

"We spoke to the children about the development and the sustainable features of our homes that include ground-source heat pumps and rainwater harvesting," said Mark Smart, site manager for Tidestone. "They asked some insightful questions that showed a real breadth of knowledge about the subject and then designed their 'homes of the future', incorporating sustainable features they had learnt about into their artwork."

"It has been really exciting finding out about the new development in the village, especially thinking about how the new houses are energy-efficient and eco-friendly," said Paula Bartlett, a teacher at Southwick Primary "The class had been learning about sustainability and how houses might change in the future. They put lots of their ideas into their designs and are very proud at having their work produced on such a large scale for everyone to see as they travel along the main road."

"We were delighted with the pictures and we are pleased to be unveiling the montage of artwork the children have created – it's being displayed on the hoardings at the front of the site for the duration of the development," said Mark Smart.

When completed next year, the four 3-bedroom and eight 2-bedroom homes at the Frome Road development will be let for affordable rent by Westlea Housing Association, also part of GreenSquare.

[published online 15/12/10]