Code for Sustainable Homes « selfbuild centralselfbuild central

Larch and Lime passivhauses

Although not self built, the two passivhauses at Ebbw Vale may be very relevant to many self builders. Built in 2010 as show houses mainly for the attention of housing associations, they are attractive and innovative while being relatively modest. The 3 bed Larch House is clad with a locally sourced larch rain screen and [...]

Houses by Ecos

ECOS, (formerly known as the Somerset Trust for Sustainable Development) is a charity which has been behind several green house building initiatives. Although not self-build, their houses are excellent examples of what is possible and are open to viewing on certain occasions. At present there are two schemes which are complete or nearing completion and [...]

Retrofit

'Under the Sun', a Victorian terrace house in Birmingham is an outstanding example of bringing a fairly typical old building up to Passivhaus standard along with major improvements to its design and appearance. For more info – click the image

Upgrading an existing house, rather than starting from scratch and building a new one [...]

Designing with timber

timber house in the Field of Dreams, Findhorn Foundation

See some of the wealth of interesting UK timber designs here.

Advantages and drawbacks

Timber can provide some of the greenest solutions to house building for several reasons

timber is inherently low in embodied energy. This is especially true if the timber can be [...]

Design it yourself

Have fun designing your house.

There are several worthwhile advantages if you do your own design work (or at least part of it) -

it may be the only way to get what you want you achieve a kind of creative act that you can do in very few realms of your life. you [...]

Part L and SAP (England)

The Building Regulations, part L1A is the section which covers energy conservation for new buildings (with part L1B covering existing buildings)

The regulations are mandatory and have gone through a series of revisions over the last 40 years or so which have progressively increased the degree of insulation required. The latest changes have also included [...]

Green Design

October 2010

Eco-house design is a fairly recent development which started getting off the ground in the UK during the mid 1990s.

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Although you will probably end up using an architect or designer for your final plans there is no substitute for being clear about what you want. Especially with eco-house design, you [...]

Standards / regulations

Permissions and regulations

The two main permissions you will almost certainly require for building work are Planning Permission and Building Regulations consent.

Planning Permission deals with the overall issue of what kind of houses are permissible in which area. The planning officers are employed by the local council.

Building Regulations deal with whether the building [...]

Green design Standards

a very low energy house in Peterculter

There are now several sets of standards afoot, and it can be quite confusing because they have somewhat different approaches. more +/-»

The Building Regs, part L

Part L (which are the current mandatory legal standards) has been tightened as regards thermal insulation and new [...]

Window design

There are many purposes a window can serve and several of these have important ecological considerations:

Letting light in Collecting solar heat Providing a view Acting as a door The visual character of a house

Windows may have associated drawbacks to consider:

They may let in too much light at certain times Too much [...]

Water Conservation

This tends to be something of a regional issue but certainly in the South East, it is becoming a major concern with planning permission being refused in some areas due to a lack of water. A major nonsense is the amount of water which is purified to drinking quality standard and then used to [...]

Combined Heat & Power

CHP, or co-generation as it is also known is a technology which has threatened to emerge and change our lives several times but as yet without success (except in a few trial situations).

The idea is that you have some kind of generator in your house which produces electricity. Given that most generators are [...]

Building Regulations

January 2010

Building Regulations deal with whether the building is built properly and is safe and energy efficient etc. more+/-»

They are not to be confused with Planning Consent (which is to do with the size, location and appearance of a house). The building inspectors are either employed by the local council [...]