A£2m prestige housing project, with views of the Angel of the North, Lumley Castle and Durham Cathedral, is set to become the first development in the North-East to gain the highest possible accreditation under the government’s Code for Sustainable Homes.

Marshall Robertson Associates Ltd hopes the development in Great Lumley, near Chester-le-Street, will meet all of the ecological and environmental criteria laid down for newly-built homes to qualify for the highest sustainability rating, code level 6.

In October, work began at High Farm Rise and construction of the first two of four luxury detached houses planned for the site is expected to be completed in April.

One of the houses is being retained by the developers as a family home, another has already been sold off-plan and the remaining two are to be put on the open market.

The Code for Sustainable Homes was drawn up in 2007 and laid the foundations for greener housing in response to research which revealed that our homes account for around 27 per cent of the UK’s carbon emissions – widely believed to be a major cause of climate change.

The code sets minimum standards for new builds at each level, the benchmark features being energy and CO2 emissions, water use, materials, surface water run-off, waste, pollution, health and wellbeing, management and ecology.

Builders opting to incorporate a specific feature are awarded points which are added together to form the basis of a hotel-style rating system.

At the highest code rating, qualifying homes will have been awarded over 90 per cent of the points available, and they would be expected to be highly sustainable.

Over the course of a year, their net carbon emissions would be zero.

Since May, 2008, all new homes are required to have a code rating on a scale of 1-6 and a code certificate has to be included within the Home Information Pack (HIP).

The project at Great Lumley was conceived when the developers visited the Oriental Spa at Seaham. Drawing inspiration from the entrance to the spa, which has a magnificent glass atrium over three floors, they started thinking how they could apply the same principles to home building.

A spokesperson for Marshall Robertson said: “Visiting the spa was a defining moment.

“As you walk in there is a natural tendency to lift your head, breathe deeply and feel good. The developers decided that they should build their own house again, this time fully incorporating ecological principles into the project.”

After discussions with the spa’s awardwinning architects, Napper, based in Newcastle, the developers found the High Farm site and utilised the expertise of Queensberry Design Ltd, an engineering consultancy from Morpeth, and building contractor G.Y.M. Construction, from nearby Meadowfield.

Although the development consists of four luxury homes of at least 4/5 bedrooms, the theme is very much simplicity in both design and construction.

All will have wooden floors and underfloor heating, leading to an estimated annual heating bill of only £50 due to the airtight construction of the building.

Other common features will include solar panels and rainwater harvesting, while the developers are also currently looking at wind-powered generators.