Building your own home can be one of the most stressful and financially taxing undertakings of your life. However the reward is a bespoke home that can provide your dream place to live, and afford you a serious advantage in the property market. Undertaking a self build will typically yield a significant capital gain advantage, over buying from the[…]
Read More »The Passivhaus standard has been gaining serious traction; in the UK and elsewhere in northern Europe it is now the in ‘vogue’ standard for low energy/environmentally friendly construction. The principles of the passivhaus or passive house concept are based on a simple postulation. That conserving heat energy, through insulation and reducing air permeability, is a more resource efficient means of maintaining a[…]
Read More »“I don’t think that sustainability is a design aesthetic, any more than having electricity in your building…It is an ethic, a basic consideration that we have as architects designing buildings” Robert Stern, Dean of Yale School of Architecture- Environment Yale magazine 2010. Stern illustrated his comments with a picture of a “green” Dutch garage with LEED (Leadership in Energy and[…]
Read More »Sustainable factory built kit homes have not yet entered the mainstream in the UK, despite some notable and award winning schemes. Kit Housing systems, necessarily public sector still suffer from the image of un-maintainable low spec boxes in the post war era. While the commercial market is dominated by large house builders building smaller and smaller brick boxes selling to[…]
Read More »Fully Engineered Timber Frame Design Our Kit Homes design and build process provides total assurance and peace of mind for the self-builder, or commercial client, looking to achieve a low energy build or Passivhaus standard . We take architects plans and develop realized kit house designs using the latest CAD software, all structural loading calculations are undertaken by our in house engineers. Site Preparation Prior to[…]
Read More »In response to the challenges of reducing emissions from building we adopt the principles of the ‘Low Carbon/Energy Hierarchy’ in our Sustainable Building system. Reducing energy demand; through efficient design and use reduction. Energy efficiency, smart use of buildings and appliances and behaviour change are the most cost beneficial and effective means of reducing your energy bills and carbon footprint. Energy[…]
Read More »The code for sustainable homes (CSH) was introduced in 2007, to improve the sustainability and carbon footprint of new housing in the UK. The standard includes a set 9 categories on which a dwelling will be assessed, with ratings from 1-6. Our standard budget builds meet Code 4 of the CSH through inherent energy efficient design, sustainable materials and reduced environmental impact. 1. Energy and[…]
Read More »Thurlestone Code 5 Development: Guidance Pamphlet (Pdf)
Read More »Thurlestone Code 5 Social Housing Development: Presentation of the Scheme Booklet (PDF)
Read More »On 26th September we invited people to view our 4 house sustainable social housing in Thurlestone, Devon. The event was an opportunity for interested housing professionals and neighbours to see the houses for themselves, chat to the team and learn about the sustainable features of the development. As one visitor put it: ‘they are some lucky tenants!’
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