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
|
|
|
Family to 'test drive' Cambridge green home |
|
 
|
|
|
|
18 Feb 2015, 3:51 PM
|
A locally based family have been selected to live rent and bill free in a carbon zero concept home in the Trumpington area of Cambridge for one year. The Rayner family moved into the home in January and will now undergo detailed monitoring.
|
The monitoring programme will focus on which sustainable features are best suited for modern family life and the personal impact that sustainable living can have.
The concept home is the prelude to homebuilder Hill’s Virido development (meaning ‘to become green’ in Latin) to be delivered in conjunction with Cambridge City Council. The site, consisting of 208 carbon zero units, is the next phase of Great Kneighton in the Cambridge Southern Fringe and will be one of the largest carbon zero developments in the UK.
Half of the site will be available for private sale, the first carbon zero homes that the company has sold privately. Ground-breaking will not take place at Virido until the details of the family study have been fully analysed and conclusions drawn – the idea being that the research feeds directly into the construction of these homes.
Building Research Analyst, Alex Rice, will work closely with the family. Rice will meet with the family on a monthly basis to assess how they are using the sustainable technology in the home, what is proving to be easy to use and what isn’t and how the home impacts on their health, mood and well-being. The family will also be regularly tweeting and blogging about their experiences.
The competition to find a family to live in the concept home launched in September last year in conjunction with the Cambridge News.
Rob Hall, for the homebuilder, commented: “These are the very first carbon zero homes that we have sold privately and our ground-breaking research, observing and surveying the Rayner family over the course of a full-year, will directly feed into the sustainable features that we incorporate into Virido. Carbon zero is the future but it needs to be easy and it needs to be family friendly.
“The appointment of Alex Rice, with his expert knowledge of sustainability and building physics, shows our commitment to the cause and we are awaiting the full results of the concept home study before embarking on the build. Our ambition is that all our future projects will have this academic underpinning so that we can create the best and greenest housing solutions.”
Although subject to change depending on the results of the concept home study, Virido will include the following sustainable features:
All the new buildings proposed are of a shallow depth. A shallow built form allows the houses to be dual aspect and reduces the need for artificial lighting and mechanical ventilation, therefore reducing energy demands.
The external envelope of the homes has been designed to provide a suitable thermal mass to even out extremes of temperature with mechanical ventilation with heat recovery systems (MVHRs) for night purging of warm air, high levels of insulation and triple glazing.
Water efficient appliances and fixtures – dual low flush WCs, taps, shower fittings and appliances will all assist in both reducing water demand and usage.
‘Technical rooms’ have been provided to accommodate all the necessary equipment.
The new buildings have been designed to have a simple palette of materials, components and features which will be varied across the site. The materials selected will be sustainably sourced and will take into account their long-term maintenance and appearance.
Design features such as solar shading, deep window reveals, higher performance glass and interstitial blinds will be specified in order to ensure that living rooms do not exceed 28°C and bedrooms do not exceed 26°C for more than 1% of the occupied hours.
The landscape design features extensive areas of green spaces, green roofs, ponds and trees to help reduce the heat island effect.
A site-wide rainwater harvesting system is proposed, which will provide non-potable water for all dwellings.
|
|
|
|
