A £40 million student village at the University of Bradford has been voted the greenest on the planet as it opened today.

Appropriately called The Green, the development has beaten more than one million buildings assessed by BREEAM – one of the world’s most prominent assessments for the environmental performance of buildings.

The development, off Great Horton Road, in the heart of the university’s campus, consists of 1,026 bedrooms across four-storey townhouses and six and seven-storey apartments.

Its innovative design and construction methods have enabled it to achieve the highest sustainability score ever awarded by BREEAM at 95.05 per cent.

Designers at GWP Architecture were charged with the task of delivering a highly efficient construction which minimises the need for space heating.

The buildings are made of pre-fabricated open-panel timber wall frames from a sustainable source. Bathroom ‘pods’ were sourced locally and installed using a crane as completed units to maximise productivity and reduce waste.

The largest heating requirement is for hot water, which is provided by a renewable energy source in solar thermal collectors, which are supplemented by a combined heat and power plant.

Interactive displays allow students to understand what energy or water they are using, and enable them to compare their energy use against their neighbours.

A team of ‘Green Ambassadors’ will teach students how to live in the most sustainable way possible and those that are careful with their energy use will get a rebate on their bills.

Students will also be encouraged to grow vegetables and large dining rooms have been designed to enable households to eat together.