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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 [...] The Van Midden house is at the Lembas Organics farm at the Bridge of Muchalls, Stonehaven. It is a very low energy house due to high levels of insulation and the use of timber I beams to reduce thermal bridging. The external rain screen is Sitka spruce with an organic paint finish. The central [...] Bringing existing houses up to a high standard of energy efficiency is a much greater challenge than with new ones. This particular example of eco renovation is outstanding because of the way it will achieve a net zero carbon rating while at the same time reaching CSH level 6. Not only that, it has been [...] This timber post and beam house in Aberfeldy pioneered “breathing construction” in the UK. Designed by Gaia Architects and built in 1992 this well insulated passive solar house also has a wood burning stove and stack effect cooling for summer. The building materials used were chosen for being non-toxic and natural. See more on [...] The Tree House in Clapham, London is a recently completed and very elegant example of a self built detached house. It has, on occasion, been open to the public as part of the London Open House programme. Situated on a small urban plot of land dominated by a large sycamore tree it has taken [...] October '09 Jim and Jo Monahan are nearing completion of their passive solar house in Spinningdale, Sutherland. This is a timber frame house which utilizes roundwood for many of the structural members. This is a way of using timber at its maximum strength because it is not cut across the grain. The timber framing [...]
the front of the house with double storey sun space One of the first UK examples of a super low energy Passivhaus has recently been completed at Denby Dale in south Yorkshire. It is interesting in several respects The walls have a stone outer skin, (on the insistence of the planners) 300mm of wall [...] This 122 m² passive solar house in Montrose was the winner of the Angus Design Award 2006. It is a post and beam structure of Douglas fir and has larch cladding with breathing wall construction. The timber is untreated. The roof is of slate and carries a solar collector for domestic hot water. designer Neil [...] October 2009 Set on a windswept hillside overlooking Scapa Flow is what is probably the UK’s most northerly straw bale house. At the stage of being wind and weather tight but not yet plastered internally, this is an example of a building with very low embodied energy. Even the footings avoid using concrete, [...] October 2009 This low energy house is set on a hill overlooking the sea near Stonehaven. Its clean and simple lines echo the vernacular of the area although it is essentially a very modern building based on passive solar construction. The walls are double skin aerated concrete block with 300mm of insulation, achieving a [...] Evanton, October 2009 This passive solar, larch clad timber frame house has recently been completed. It is highly glazed on the south elevation and has a concrete floor slab for thermal mass. It has high levels of cellulose insulation (Warmcell). Heating is by an air source heat pump in conjunction with a solar panel, [...] The Lancaster Cohousing group have recently purchased land near Halton on the River Lune near Lancaster. They are intending to build a number of Passivhauses and a communal building. There are some existing industrial buildings on the site which may be improved and converted. This is likely to be an example of communal self build [...] Aberfeldy, October 2009 This is a timber frame house of 76 sq,m. built in 2001. In terms of heating it benefits from its double storey living area facing south and the limited amount of glazing to the north. There is 200mm cellulose insulation in the roof, 150mm in the floor and 145mm in the [...] October ’09 Home of Alexander and Vinny Burnett, Kashentroch is an elegant and spacious open plan timber frame house in a beautiful setting close to the Dee. The original part of the house (with the pitched roof on the right of the picture), built about 5 years ago, has recently had an addition of [...] 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 [...] Designed by architect Gokay Deveci. This passive solar house is open plan with the main central living room overlooked by a first floor gallery living area. This allows heat to circulate round the house.
The building has a high thermal mass, superinsulation and is very air tight thus eliminating the need for a [...] October 2009 On the Hill of Bandodle, Aberdeenshire, stands a beautiful timber frame house designed by architect Genevieve Jones for her family. Incorporating high levels of insulation (in the form of 350mm of shoddy obtained from Elgin woolen mill) and mainly locally sourced materials, Larch, Douglas fir and Caithness slate, the house also has [...] On Unst, northernmost island of the Shetland Isles is what may be the world’s first zero carbon house. The owner/builders, Michael and Dot Rea have a web site giving details of the project and there is a video on the Guardian web site. [...] Hedgehog Self Build Co-op, Hogs Edge, Brighton august 2009 Started in the late 1990s this development of ten timber frame houses is based on the Walter Segal approach to construction. They incorporate high levels of Warmcell insulation and benefit from south facing solar gain. The living roofs are of Sedum. It may [...] October ’09 Building with solid timber Allan is building a log house high on a hill near Evanton, north of Inverness. The locally sourced Scots Pine logs are scribed and cut to fit snugly together and are notched so that they interlock at the corners. The logs in the house weigh about 80 tonnes. [...] October ’09 Locally grown timber Situated in the Scottish Highlands, this nearly completed timber house is composed of three hexagonal areas plus a sun room which extends segmentally out of one of the hexagon sides. The framework is of local Douglas fir and the rain screen of wany edged larch, also locally grown. Much [...] Allan’s log house Allerton Park, Leeds Andy’s house Ashley Vale, Bristol Bandodle house Batavia zero carbon house Chewton Mendip Earth Heart Findhorn Foundation Hedgehog Co-op Hockerton Housing Project House in Peterculter Houses by Ecos Kashentroch, Banchory Kirk Park Lammas eco village Larch and Lime passivhauses McIver House Mckay house, Stonehaven Orkney straw bale Parramatta [...] A very interesting terrace of three houses, on a curved road junction, has recently been completed in this Somerset village. Some of the main features of the design are: Very high insulation levels provided by insulating concrete forms (ICF) with added exterior face insulation Structural insulated panel (SIP) roofs Eco-slab ground floors and upper [...] Walter Segal self build This is made up of 3 adjoining houses which were built by three families, starting in 1993. They were constructed according to the Walter Segal self build approach to construction and incorporated a number of ecological principles: High insulation values. Most of the external surfaces have 200mm of insulation, some [...] Self build eco houses in the Field of Dreams, Findhorn Foundation Over the last decade or so the green building movement in the UK has gone from being fringe to mainstream. Architects, builders and suppliers are falling over each other to declare their green credentials Self builders have something of a tradition of trying [...]
Earth Heart is a community of 22 people in 8 homes based on a large converted farm in Derbyshire set up in 1998 around home education. Although not initially concerned with eco-build, they have embraced the concept thoroughly during their upgrading of an old farm house and several outbuildings into dwellings. There [...]
The five earth sheltered houses. Image by WindandSun who provided the PV installation The Hockerton Housing Project is the UK’s first (and almost only) earth sheltered housing development. It is a remarkable place, not only because of the five houses which are built into the side of a hill and are almost zero energy [...] October 2010 Eco-house design is a fairly recent development which started getting off the ground in the UK during the mid 1990s. more +/-» 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 [...] October 2009 The Findhorn Foundation near Fores in the North East of Scotland has a couple of interesting areas of eco-housing and a whole approach to living lightly on the earth including 750kW of electrical energy from 4 wind turbines recently installed for Findhorn Wind Park Ltd which is the trading arm of Findhorn Foundation. [...] autumn 2009
from left to right – individual houses, the communal village green area, bungalows, the terrace of houses and, (bright red), the flats above the workshops and community centre CLICK ABOVE FOR 3D PANORAMIC IMAGE WITH DRAG AND ZOOM This is one of the most interesting recent examples of group self-build in the [...] |
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