Specialist real estate lender and investor, Octopus Capital, has announced its backing for an ambitious sustainable housing development in Essex.
Located in Epping Forest, Essex, the 113-home scheme known as Carpenters Yard is being led by planet-positive housebuilder, gs8. Octopus Capital is supporting gs8’s delivery of the scheme with a £20million loan through its Greener Homes Alliance, launched in April this year. The alliance encourages SME developers to build greener, more sustainable homes by offering incentives that reduce financing costs for sustainable projects.
The scheme brings together Octopus Capital’s real estate debt team alongside the commitment to delivering high-quality sustainable homes of its affordable housing team.
Gs8 has partnered with Octopus Energy, the UK’s largest energy supplier, to create a ‘Zero Bills’ microgrid community, meaning that residents would have no home energy bills for a minimum of five to ten years. Every home includes a heat pump and solar panels, while the energy generated is stored, managed and shared through a single centralised battery system.
The site will be developed in line with gs8’s ‘Planet Positive Framework’, meaning it will follow zero-waste principles and is designed to store more carbon in the homes than they create over their lifetime. Shaped by the local community, Carpenters Yard features a number of shared spaces, including landscaped gardens, play trails, allotments and edible planting. It will feature a local grocery with a community café, fitness centre and a new community hub. The development will also offer an electric car and bike club in partnership with Volt, along with a communal DIY and reuse centre.
The Octopus Affordable Housing Fund, established to accelerate the delivery of high-quality affordable homes, will acquire 35 of the ‘Zero Bills’ homes through its own for-profit registered provider of social housing, NewArch Homes. This will provide residents with significantly reduced living costs while cutting carbon emissions and setting a new benchmark for sustainable affordability.
This acquisition follows the recent news of the Fund raising an additional £118million, bringing total commitments to over £360million. The Fund now owns more than 500 affordable homes across the UK, with a further 400 in the pipeline, providing housing to over 2,000 residents.
Jack Burnham, head of affordable housing at Octopus Capital, said: “This acquisition demonstrates the powerful role long-term capital can play in transforming housing. By combining institutional investment, government-backed finance, and cutting-edge homebuilding innovation, we’re proving that affordability and sustainability can go hand in hand. Our ‘Zero Bills’ investment is not just a first for the sector – it’s a glimpse into the future of housing.”
Josh Gordon, co-founder at gs8, said: “At gs8, we are driven by a clear purpose that housing should have a positive impact – on people, place and the planet. This partnership with Octopus Capital and Octopus Energy brings that vision to life. Together we’re proving that sustainable innovation doesn’t have to come at a premium – it can set a standard for how homes are built and lived in for generations to come.”
