Private Client  - Low energy dwelling house

This project was a design and build for a local client only 3 miles from our offices. The brief was to design a storey and half low energy family dwelling as close to passive house as possible, that fitted with the clients affordable budget. The initial design sketches were drawn up and tweaked with the client until a design was agreed upon. We then had the design run through the PHPP (passive house planning package) to calculate where it sat on the sale of passiv haus. This allowed us to tweak the design by moving windows away from the North elevation and focussed our attention on the construction details.

The planning application was approved and detailed drawings prepared for building warrant submission. It was here where great attention to detail was required to ensure the build on site went as smoothly as possible and to guarantee the correct levels of air permeability were achieved. The design includes the use of PV panels, wood burning stove, dual electric emersion water heating, energy and microgenerator management systems together with MVHR. The house is designed with no ‘traditional’ wet central heating system which together with the PV panels makes for a dwelling house with exceptionally low energy bills.

The house was completed on site and achieved an air permeability rating of 0.74 m³/(h/m²)