Get a whole year of cutting-edge eco-building news for just £24.00 pa.
Built upon 30 years of experience, this fabulous new medium will feature inspiring and in-depth articles on eco-building projects from across the spectrum and from all over the UK, most of which are written by the very people that designed or built them. Perfect for architects, builders, developers, self builders and anyone interested in keeping right up-to-date with green building trends and friends.
For subscription options:
please go here
|
|
|
Passivhaus Council Housing in Crawley |
|
 
|
|
|
|
1 Dec 2014, 5:40 PM
|
Seven houses and six flats, which will be built to Passivhaus standards, have been submitted for planning approval in Crawley, south London. These 13 dwellings are some of the first council housing built by the Borough Council in the last 30 years.
.jpg)
|
Accredited Passivhaus Design are the architects behind the 13 Passivhaus dwellings. Not only will these homes be amongst the first housing built by Crawley Borough Council in the last 30 years but they are expected to be the first of many more.
Located in the Three Bridges area of Crawley these family homes are sustainably located on a vacant brownfield site near local shops and the Three Bridges Community Centre. The site layout creates a new urban space in front of the community centre whilst also providing an improved road access to the adjacent Three Bridges Primary School.
The new houses and flats are efficiently planned, with two terraces of houses and one block of flats. Due to the narrow plots available, the houses are shallow in depth with a double fronted plan. This allows the main rooms in the two and three bedroom houses to have windows to the front and back providing good natural lighting with additional through ventilation in the summer.
As council housing is provided for people in housing need, the low energy use of these Passivhaus homes will make a strong contribution to reducing fuel poverty with very low bills for residents, with the knock-on benefit to the landlord of low rent arrears. Also, the good construction quality of these dwellings, including triple glazed windows and continuous filtered, pre-warmed fresh air ventilation, will ensure durability and comfort for the future.
And more - in Hackney the Passivhaus designed by Tectonics Architects with Passivhaus consultancy from Accredited Passivhaus Design was open to low energy building enthusiasts as part of The UK Passivhaus Open Days in November 2014. This house on Lansdowne Drive, Hackney is remarkable for being able to meet the Passivhaus standard whilst being situated in the shadow of taller Victorian homes to the south. Still on site, its construction of externally insulated insitu concrete lower ground floor and cross laminated timber upper floor ensured an impressively low air leakage rate of 0.37 air changes per hour at its first test. Heating is largely provided by large west facing windows on both floors.
Certified Passivhaus Designer Peter Ranken said:
‘This house shows that it is possible to build to the Passivhaus standard on difficult urban sites, even when the building cannot face south.’
|
|
|
|
