Top designer Sir Terence Conran has had a hand in proposals for an eco-development in Norwich.

Top designer Sir Terence Conran has had a hand in proposals for an eco-development in Norwich.

Leading architects firm Conran and Partners, of which the style and food guru is chairman, is working with Abel Developments on plans to build 22 eco-homes on the site of Littlewood House in School Road, Drayton.

The house has long been boarded up and is a regular target for arsonists and vandals.

But Tony Abel, managing director of Abel Homes, has big plans for the 20-acre site and said: “We are looking at lots of different things to increase the eco-friendliness of our homes, including water recycling facilities and solar panels.”

Mr Abel said they would be looking at using geo-thermal heat pumps for space heating and cooling, as well as water heating.

The proposed timber-framed houses will be so well insulated and airtight that in theory no central heating is needed, and solar collectors will provide most of the hot water.

Harvested rainwater from underground tanks will be used for flushing toilets and watering gardens.

Wymondham-based Matthew Wood, architectural director of Conran and Partners, said: “This project will be raising the bar in this sector, for national and regional house-builders alike, showing that well-designed and environmentally responsible homes will become the norm rather than the exception.”

Mr Abel plans to put a planning application into Broadland District Council for the site by the autumn.