Homes and Buildings
This is the page for inspirational building projects.....
Brittany Groundhouse
Featured on Grand Designs: The Groundhouse website: http://www.groundhouse.com/
Ben Law's Timber 'A' Frame
Living and working in woodland, it was only natural for Ben to build a wooden house:
On Grand Designs: http://vimeo.com/28848933
Website: http://www.ben-law.co.uk/
A list of Grand Designs episodes on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Grand_Designs_episodes
Hockerton Housing Project is an earth-sheltered row of homes near Nottingham. Their south-facing conservatories pick up heat that's stored in masonry surrounded by insulation, so no heating is required. One unit was notably unoccupied for a month in winter - its indoor temperature fell by 1C, such was its dependence on body heat! They have open days, which are opportunities not just to study the architecture, but also social living. See http://www.hockertonhousingproject.org.uk/.
This is the page for inspirational building projects.....
Brittany Groundhouse
Featured on Grand Designs: The Groundhouse website: http://www.groundhouse.com/
Ben Law's Timber 'A' Frame
Living and working in woodland, it was only natural for Ben to build a wooden house:
On Grand Designs: http://vimeo.com/28848933
Website: http://www.ben-law.co.uk/
A list of Grand Designs episodes on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Grand_Designs_episodes
Hockerton Housing Project is an earth-sheltered row of homes near Nottingham. Their south-facing conservatories pick up heat that's stored in masonry surrounded by insulation, so no heating is required. One unit was notably unoccupied for a month in winter - its indoor temperature fell by 1C, such was its dependence on body heat! They have open days, which are opportunities not just to study the architecture, but also social living. See http://www.hockertonhousingproject.org.uk/.
In 2011, CPRE organised four days of guided, informative tours of 11 energy efficient buildings and projects.
Details of some of these are available on the internet:
Village Hall, Bickerton - Electricity generated by a 27 panel photovoltaic array with public information display monitor in entrance hall, and solar water heating system. Website.
Flowcrete UK Ltd. Head offices, Sandbach - Sedum roofed building with air source heating and cooling pump supplying under floor heating throughout. Lighting minimisation, wall insulation, natural ventilation, reused materials. Website.
Kingsmead Primary School, Northwich - Solar photo-voltaics and hot water panels, rainwater harvesting for WC flushing, bio-mass boiler, super insulation, natural ventilation and SUDS (Sustainable Urban Water Drainage Systems). Recycled materials used throughout along with locally sourced products and labour. Article in Building Magazine.
Spring Farm Business Centre, Crewe - Converted farm buildings utilising wind power generated by two Gaia turbines. Waste recycling. Photovoltaic panels. Planning a Zero Carbon building using recycled materials and ground source heat pumps, with rainwater harvesting. Website.
Reaseheath Agricultural College, Nantwich - Anaerobic digestion demonstration plant converting animal wastes to gas, heat and fertilizer. Reaseheath report (pdf)
School of Natural Building: training, shop (books and t-shirts) and resources, including the UK’s first Environmental Product Declaration for straw, as well as the UK’s first Technical Guide for straw bale construction. http://schoolofnaturalbuilding.co.uk/
Some rules for good building:
1. Leave Nature alone as far as possible - no earthworks, no chainsaws. Build around what you're blessed with, let it add character. Leave carbon in the soil. Gone are the days of the A0 sheet of paper that got translated into a plot of bulldozed land - we now have the technology to survey land and directly use that as a template for our design, so we can leave nature alone more. Also, trees are essential to the integrity of hills not based on rock. With increasing risk of heavy rainfall, landslides are more likely, and trees, along with their ground flora, can help hold things together.
2. Build low energy buildings, preferably passivhaus standard, with low embedded energy materials. Use of timber, straw and hemp locks up carbon. This is the standard that will be marketable in decades to come.
3. Let this development be an asset to the area - more than just a cluster of homes, throw in some community needs, even workplaces. Ask the locals.
4. Future generations will think us mad to use a ton of tin to shift a hundredweight of human! Let the cars be shared, homed in a compound on the edge of the development (except for those of the less able); that way an appropriate vehicle can be used for the job. Aim to cut travel distances. Rural developments should be for rural workers in that vicinity.
5. Work with Nature to conserve water. Don't automatically pump it away, it's needed for gardens, helping to keep people cool and grow local food. Aim for water neutrality: rainwater saving, composting toilets.
6. Consider wildlife - plant hedges not fences. Sterile fences at least need hedgehog highways.
7. Some people like to share accommodation, combine households: they use less resources that way, and have other benefits like inbuilt babysitters/dogwalkers/boffins/gardeners.
Some of these may be shared with https://www.buildingwithnature.org.uk/
Details of some of these are available on the internet:
Village Hall, Bickerton - Electricity generated by a 27 panel photovoltaic array with public information display monitor in entrance hall, and solar water heating system. Website.
Flowcrete UK Ltd. Head offices, Sandbach - Sedum roofed building with air source heating and cooling pump supplying under floor heating throughout. Lighting minimisation, wall insulation, natural ventilation, reused materials. Website.
Kingsmead Primary School, Northwich - Solar photo-voltaics and hot water panels, rainwater harvesting for WC flushing, bio-mass boiler, super insulation, natural ventilation and SUDS (Sustainable Urban Water Drainage Systems). Recycled materials used throughout along with locally sourced products and labour. Article in Building Magazine.
Spring Farm Business Centre, Crewe - Converted farm buildings utilising wind power generated by two Gaia turbines. Waste recycling. Photovoltaic panels. Planning a Zero Carbon building using recycled materials and ground source heat pumps, with rainwater harvesting. Website.
Reaseheath Agricultural College, Nantwich - Anaerobic digestion demonstration plant converting animal wastes to gas, heat and fertilizer. Reaseheath report (pdf)
School of Natural Building: training, shop (books and t-shirts) and resources, including the UK’s first Environmental Product Declaration for straw, as well as the UK’s first Technical Guide for straw bale construction. http://schoolofnaturalbuilding.co.uk/
Some rules for good building:
1. Leave Nature alone as far as possible - no earthworks, no chainsaws. Build around what you're blessed with, let it add character. Leave carbon in the soil. Gone are the days of the A0 sheet of paper that got translated into a plot of bulldozed land - we now have the technology to survey land and directly use that as a template for our design, so we can leave nature alone more. Also, trees are essential to the integrity of hills not based on rock. With increasing risk of heavy rainfall, landslides are more likely, and trees, along with their ground flora, can help hold things together.
2. Build low energy buildings, preferably passivhaus standard, with low embedded energy materials. Use of timber, straw and hemp locks up carbon. This is the standard that will be marketable in decades to come.
3. Let this development be an asset to the area - more than just a cluster of homes, throw in some community needs, even workplaces. Ask the locals.
4. Future generations will think us mad to use a ton of tin to shift a hundredweight of human! Let the cars be shared, homed in a compound on the edge of the development (except for those of the less able); that way an appropriate vehicle can be used for the job. Aim to cut travel distances. Rural developments should be for rural workers in that vicinity.
5. Work with Nature to conserve water. Don't automatically pump it away, it's needed for gardens, helping to keep people cool and grow local food. Aim for water neutrality: rainwater saving, composting toilets.
6. Consider wildlife - plant hedges not fences. Sterile fences at least need hedgehog highways.
7. Some people like to share accommodation, combine households: they use less resources that way, and have other benefits like inbuilt babysitters/dogwalkers/boffins/gardeners.
Some of these may be shared with https://www.buildingwithnature.org.uk/