The first eco-friendly social housing development designed to meet tough Government guidelines for reducing carbon emissions has opened in Bradford.

The green homes, built by Shipley-based housing association Accent Foundation in Munby Street, Fairweather Green, have sustainable features to help protect the environment and cut household bills.

They are the first housing association homes in the city to meet level four of the Government’s Code for Sustainable Homes and include ground source heat pumps, water saving devices and heat recovery ventilation systems.

Speaking at the official opening of the development today, Accent’s chief executive Gordon Perry said: “Accent is all about making a difference by improving homes, communities and lives.

“We can’t do this more than by building affordable, warm homes. We want to improve the lives of the tenants that are moving into our homes.”

The scheme was given a £45,000 grant by the Low Carbon Buildings Programme to provide the ground source heat pumps, which use a bore-hole buried in each garden to extract heat from the ground.

Sonia Whetham, design and technical manager for Accent, said: “We are committed to providing quality, affordable homes for our residents. We want our tenants to live in homes that are cheap to heat and run. They are very well insulated so no heat will escape.”

Tenants for the nine three-bedroom homes were at opening celebrations for the development at nearby sports centre 5 Alive. Maureen Bateman, who will move into one with her daughter and son, said: “When I was first offered one of these houses I was over the moon. The heating bills are going to be a lot lower. It will make things easier.”

The Code for Sustainable Homes is an environmental impact rating system for new homes. Homes are given a rating based on their performance against nine criteria, which are combined to assess the overall environmental impact of the property.