Citu to make low-carbon homes in Leeds factory

Leeds-based sustainable developer Citu is set to build a £3m factory in the city that will make low-carbon houses and create 40 jobs.Work has started on site to create Citu Works, a new facility located on a 3.5-acre brownfield site in Leeds city centre off Clarence Road, close to Leeds Dock.The plant will produce the Citu House, a product of a focused innovation grant from national government via Innovate UK in collaboration with Leeds Beckett University.The new system is in the final stages of research and development and uses an energy efficient timber frame that is designed to perform to the highest environmental standards including passivhaus principles.Citu, which has an ambition to accelerate the development of zero carbon buildings and neighbourhoods, will initially use the factory to serve demand from its own developments.The 60,000 sq ft facility has the capacity to produce up to 750 low-carbon homes each year. The developer is investing £3m into the new facility, in addition to a £400,000 grant from the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP).Timber frame homes commonly are produced in factories across Germany and Scandinavia.