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UK's largest Passivhaus development approved
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Planning permission has been granted for the largest Passivhaus development so far built in the UK. Recommending the scheme for approval, the planners said: ‘This is an innovative development proposal that is a radical and positive departure from conventional modern housing developments'.
UK's largest Passivhaus development approved

The planners additionally commented that the 'development will also maintain and enhance the vitality and harmony of the community. The environmental sustainability of the buildings in particular is exemplar and would set the benchmark for other developments both within the county and elsewhere to follow.’

The 150 home scheme will be built in rural Herefordshire, and has been designed by Hereford-based architects Architype. According to the practice, the eco-housing scheme aims to ‘transform both the quality and sustainability of developer housing in the UK’.

Director Jonathan Hines commented: ‘We are delighted that in granting approval the planning committee recognised the visionary and innovative approach. It has been a liberating experience to rethink our role as architects and tackle the issue of housing development from first principles. This scheme will establish a new benchmark in housing development, by demonstrating that better design quality and Passivhaus can be achieved as standard.’

Attempting to combat the view of ‘Passivhaus as an unaffordable extra’, the sustainability standard has been integrated into the development from the start, aiming to prove that it can be achieved within standard budgets.

Hines has joined forces with Swedish businessman, Lars Carlsson to set up a new development arm, named Archihaus, which will act as both client and developer for the project.

Drawing inspiration from both Passivhaus principles and the local Herefordshire vernacular, the house plans are shallower in depth and have a wider frontage than typical volume house-builder homes.

The rural site’s layout features three groups of 50 houses set around a large park space.

The houses will be pre-fabricated, using standardised modules and efficient panel sizes. This approach could ‘achieve higher standards at a competitive cost, achieving high standards at a cost that is competitive to standard construction’, Hines assured. Drawing from European house building principles the houses will be constructed in a local factory, which will be established close to the Herefordshire site.

The first phase of the development features a ‘cohousing area’ of 21 houses set alongside a community centre, in an attempt to establish a community on the new development.

Architype have a long standing commitment to green building, being especially vocal on the criticality of tackling embodied energy. More operationally energy efficient buildings can mean that the embodied carbon accounts for 50% or more of the total lifecycle carbon output.

To combat this locally sourced material is used as much as possible, prioritising organic materials and lime, which sequester carbon, to bring down the embodied carbon per square metre figure. This also provides the added benefit of reinforcing and reinvigorating local supply chains, and increasing the amount of renewable material in the building.



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