TV presenter Kevin McCloud will be joined by the Minister of State for Housing & Local Government tomorrow when work starts his Swindon development.

The Triangle, a 42-home development in Swindon, is the first scheme by Hab Oakus, the joint venture between McCloud’s development company, Hab, and housing group GreenSquare.

Paul King, chief executive of the UK Green Building Council, David Ashmore, chief executive of GreenSquare , and John Frankiewicz, chief executive of Willmott Dixon, will also be taking part in the event along with Grant Shapps MP.

Rather than the traditional ‘turning of the sod’, the start on site ceremony will include a demonstration by Kevin McCloud of Tradical Hemcrete, which is being used for the walls of the new homes at The Triangle.

Tradical Hemcrete is a hemp and lime wall thermal walling system that absorbs CO2 in its manufacture and so has negative embodied CO2.

For a typical wall section, the material will have 130kg CO2/m2 less than traditional brick and block.