Insulation and wall thickness

With increasing levels of insulation, the total thickness of a wall becomes an issue in relation to land values, especially in densely built urban areas where space is restricted. The total footprint of the external walls of a house can easily be around 15 – 20% of the ground floor area and this becomes significant.

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Van Midden House

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 beamsprefabricated timber beams with a web of OSBOriented Strand Board and softwood flanges. They are very light, efficient and [...]

‘Under the Sun’, Birmingham

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 Code for Sustainable Homes. A standard for [...]

The Tree House

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 [...]

Rowangarth

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 [...]

Passivhaus at Denby Dale

the front of the house with double storey[for the purposes of part B (fire) of the Approved Documents to the Building Regulations] this means a. any gallery[for the purposes of part B of the Approved Documents] – A raised area or platform around the sides or at the back of a room which provides [...]

Lancaster Cohousing

The Lancaster Cohousing group is situated near Halton on the River Lune near Lancaster. They are in the process of building over 40 certified Passivhauses including flats and houses, and a communal building. The construction is mainly concrete blockwork with OSBOriented Strand Board based internal linings. There are some existing industrial buildings on the [...]

Kirk Park

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[for the purposes of part B (fire) of the Approved Documents to the Building Regulations] this means a. any gallery[for the purposes of part B of the Approved Documents] [...]

Kashentroch, Banchory

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 [...]

Walls

The main types of walls

Regardless of the type of wall construction, all walls have certain functions to fulfil and certain challenges to contend with. From a green perspective, three of the most important aspects of walls are their insulation values, the embodied energythe total amount of energy it takes to make a material [...]

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 L, is the section which covers energy conservation for new buildings (with part L1A covering new buildings and part L1B covering existing ones)

At present there is a period of transition which is well explained in an NHBCThe National House-Building Council describes itself as being “the leading warranty and insurance provider [...]

House in Peterculter

Designed by architect Gokay Deveci. This passive solar house is open plan with the main central living room overlooked by a first floor gallery[for the purposes of part B of the Approved Documents] – A raised area or platform around the sides or at the back of a room which provides extra space. [...]

Self Build Central

Self build eco houses in the Field of Dreams, Findhorn FoundationThe Findhorn Foundation is a large community near Inverness. There is a strong emphasis on sustainable building and living.

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 [...]

Hockerton Housing Project

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 [...]