Cycling must be cool - after all those photos of actors, singers and models pedalling around New York and Notting Hill, now even politicians are at it. Most of us struggle to look good in the saddle, as we hoick the thing up steps, but we can at least feel smugly green. However, a new development of 47 “cycle homes” in Bristol could take some of the sweat out of this smugness.

Bristol was recently named England's first “cycling city” by the Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly, in a campaign to encourage cycling inspired by the popularity of bikes in Dutch cities. The city will be allocated £11million to show how improved cycling facilities can increase the number of people who use cycling as their primary method of transport.

The cycle homes are part of a mixed-use regeneration project that includes the transformation of the Greenbank Chocolate Factory. Facing on to the Bristol-to-Bath cycle path, the terraced townhouses will have three or four bedrooms and cost in the region of £200,000. Features will include seam-free sloping pathways leading from the cycle path to the front door, indoor bicycle storage on the ground floor and an onsite bicycle repair garage and shop.

The project was conceived by George Ferguson, of Acanthus Ferguson Mann architects. His design incorporates a planted roof that encourages wildlife and provides insulation. Ferguson says the idea of having the homes facing on to the cycle path is a reversal of “the tradition of houses backing onto a railway line”. Buyers can reserve units from mid-2009 and completion is scheduled for 2012.

Cycling has many new recruits thanks to its easy-breezy summertime chic; colder weather and the Bristol hills might prevent a cycling movement on a Dutch scale but the homes could set a blueprint for the future.

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