A FIRST of its kind eco-building in Bradford has been featured as part of a video shown at the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.

In the 30-minute Green Churches Showcase video, there is a segment of about two minutes which features John Anderson, trustee of Baildon Methodist Church, talking about the church's eco-building, The Fold.

He said: "It's great credit to Baildon and Bradford that it is the first church premises in Britain to have this type of building.

"Passivhaus is a German invention," said Mr Anderson. "It emits no carbon dioxide, uses no gas, very little electricity, survives both the heat and cold and is one of the best buildings in the country for airtightness.

"It has a heat exchanger upstairs and downstairs which takes in the used air, which includes germs like Covid, and expels it replaces it with new fresh air that has been pre-warmed by the heat exchanger.

"We're trying to show that this can be the future of new buildings and should be on big scale, not just churches.

"It should be a model for any homes built from here onwards.

"This is the kind of building which must happen internationally."

He said the building is aptly named The Fold because it is in Binnswell Fold, which reflects the history of a former farmer, Mr Binns, who kept animals like sheep in a fold.

The religious reason for the building name, he said is that "Jesus Christ is a shepherd of sheep".

The Fold, which was built in 2019, cost £1 million and took the church ten years of fundraising to pay for.

Mr Anderson said the idea for the project started more than ten years ago when Baildon Methodist Church became an eco-congregation.

In the video, Mr Anderson explains: "Our church has been an eco-congregation since 2008.

"We decided to set a team which was in charge building a new structure next to our 1890's church which really would encapsulate our view of the future, living lightly on God's earth and not just talk about climate change but do something about it.

"So we demolished the old building there down to mud and rebuilt a two-storey building.

"We wish to express our faith in the building and to proclaim the good news to the whole of creation.

"We had to plan ahead to raise the consciousness of people to save biodiversity and worship God's whole creation by getting minds, souls and spirits ready before you lay bricks."