Fife Council Building Services has trialled the innovative tiles on seven semi detached houses in Kinglassie.

Almost 1,000 Marley Eternit EcoLogic tiles were provided for the project through builders merchant Jewson, who helped advise the council on the best sustainable roof tile to meet their requirements.

The EcoLogic tiles absorb and neutralise harmful nitrous oxides (NOx) in the atmosphere and during its lifetime an average sized roof using EcoLogic tiles could remove an amount of NOx equivalent to that emitted by a modern car driving 100,000 miles.

Steve Anderson, Contracts Manager for Fife Council Building Services, said: “One of our strategic priorities is to become the best green council in Scotland so the environmental rating of building materials we use on our housing projects is very important.”

Drew Fleming, general manager at Jewson in Kirkcaldy, added: “Fife Council indicated that they wanted a sustainable roof tile that was A+ rated in the BRE Green Guide to Specification.

“So we immediately identified the EcoLogic tile as the best one for the project and worked with Marley Eternit to demonstrate the tile to Fife Council, showing them how the tile could achieve the high environmental standards they required while at the same time reducing pollution.”

The pilot project in Kinglassie is the first step in Fife Council’s investment programme to bring all of its housing stock up to the Scottish Quality Housing Standard.

The ambitious programme, which will refurbish thousands of homes, is due to be completed by 2015.

Ecologic Tiles have a special external coating which contains grades of titanium dioxide (TiO2).

This surface coating triggers a reaction under the influence of UV radiation in sunlight which converts harmful asthma-causing pollutant nitrogen oxides (NOx) into nitric acid ions.

These are then neutralised by the lime and calcium carbonate in the concrete, so removing the potentially harmful pollutants from the atmosphere.