This project was undertaken to prove that a sustainable house can be built at a price point of a standard home.

The design has delivered a building that heats and cools itself and is comfortable all year round.

The building has been used as an example to educate the public and housing industry professionals about passive design and the benefit of adopting these principles.

A solar power system offsets all energy from an operational perspective and a monitoring system provides hard evidence of the performance of the building so the benefit of sustainable design can be quantified. A drought tolerant garden reduces the reliance on resources assisted by 7000l RWT storage.

KEY INTIATIVES

  • Passive Design
  • Pre-fabricated walling systems
  • High specification insulation and glazing systems
  • Built to a high standard and tested using thermography and air pressure testing
  • Small footprint reducing embodied and operational energy requirements
  • Sustainable materials such as recycled brick, Bamboo, sisal and natural paints
  • No air conditioner or heating appliances
  • Built on standard budget demonstrating sustainable builds don't mean expensive builds
  • Optimised thermal modelling using RoboRater
  • LUX calculations were also taken into account to specify lighting requirements and then optimised using LEDs
  • Bio PCM - phase change material - internal wall at ceiling height
  • Insulation - Earthwool R6 in ceiling R2 to internal walls
  • Recycled bricks