Called "earthships", the homes currently under construction may not look like a typical des res but at a cost of £40,000 including solar power, own water supply and sewage system the tyre houses could provide a solution to the UK's low-cost housing crisis.
They are being built in Fife, Scotland and on the South Downs outside Brighton. When finished inside with plaster and outside with solar tiles and modern facing material they look like ultra-modern homes.
Each earthship requires 2,000 tyres and with 40 million being discarded each year in Britain there is enough free building material to construct 20,000 low-cost homes a year, according to Daren Howarth, of the Low Carbon Network, who is in charge of the South Downs project.
"I was both delighted and amazed at the positive attitude of Brighton councillors in giving planning permission," he said. "Sometimes there can be prejudice against new ideas but I said to them the Eden Project in Cornwall would never have got off the ground if the local councillors had not had vision. They decided to give us a chance."
Ref: http://www.sovereignty.org.uk/features/eco/eehome.html
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