Inspired by autonomy: This ‘new kind of house’ was in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, and turned out to have been built by architects Brenda and Robert Vale, who had set out to construct a home which would tread as lightly on the earth as possible. The core construction used a lot of bricks and concrete, to provide high thermal mass. This was surrounded by an unprecedented amount of insulation for that period, with attention paid to airtightness too. With a relatively limited choice of materials available, many had to be imported from Europe and Scandinavia, including triple-glazed windows and low conductivity wall ties. ...

Lancaster Co-housing Project - Part 4: - The Lancaster Cohousing project is a certified Passivhaus/Code for Sustainable Homes, level 6 and Life Time Homes, affordable community housing project. It has evolved through a participatory design process with the individual householders and Eco Arc Architects. In this article Andrew Yeats and Graham Bath provide an overview on the wall construction, and first floor construction, with particular regard to the integration of Passivhaus detailing ...

The wettest drought on record: - There was never really any doubt about the subject of this column. It was always going to be about the drought, or ‘the wettest drought on record’, as it is now officially known. Articles about more rain needed to prevent a hosepipe ban had been circulating from January and February 2012, with some industry specialists suggesting that a third dry winter was possible and predicting dire consequences if that occurred ...

FITs consultation - the next phases: - In our winter 2011 issue, we reported on the feed-in tariff (FIT) review and the devastating impact of the early reference date for a tariff reduction for solar PV. In our spring issue this year we reported on the confusion caused by the various legal challenges and appeals, and attempted to clarify the current situation for solar PV. In this article, Jerry Clark expands the debate to include future cost controls for solar PV, and a discussion of how FIT changes will affect other technologies ...

Local AECB groups, A good way to stay inspired: The AECB – the sustainable building association has a network of local groups across England and Scotland providing an opportunity to meet with AECB members in most regions. For more details of dates and venues visit the AECB website (www.aecb.net) or contact debbie@aecb.net. The following reports from local group events give a flavour of some of the activities you can get involved with. Members are keen to share their knowledge and expertise on different aspects of sustainable building ...

Passivhaus Ventilation - climatic considerations: If you believe some of the things you hear about Passivhaus buildings, you might begin to think that each one was an energy guzzling behemoth. Mark Siddall, architect and certified Passivhaus designer, does a little myth busting and sets some facts straight ...

Get wise to water: With some areas of England still officially in drought, and hosepipe bans in force until further notice, we need to think differently about water. Unlimited water on tap is no longer something we can take for granted, and as climate change escalates. It’s time to rethink how we use water in the garden. Michael Littlewood explains ...

Design Solutions - comparing three projects: The houses that architect, David Gomersall, is interested in designing and building, balance the clients’ needs with sustainability (particularly orientation for passive solar gain) and hopefully respond to, and respect, the location and site potential. Three recent house projects of very similar size particularly illustrate this design approach. Here David compares the design systems’ solutions ....

Embodied energy - a ticking time bomb part 2: In this, her second article on the subject, Kate de Selincourt explores methods and tools available to designers and builders wanting to count – and cut – the embodied energy and carbon impact of their buildings, and considers whether carbon ‘locked up’ in biological materials - like timber and straw -- should be credited in the foot-printing process ...

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