The renewable house opens at the BRE

The Renewable House is a unique housing project being built for launch at BRE’s INSITE09 event , 1-4 June 2009.  The house is based around using renewable materials to deliver an affordable house that meets Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, with a build cost of £75,000, excluding groundworks. Whilst offering significantly minimised embodied CO2, the design also enables the easy enhancement to meet Levels 5 and 6.

The scheme is being delivered by the NNFCC with funding from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The house is being Project Managed by contractor The Linford Group who are managing the design development and construction. They are working with design partners Empyer Homes and Archial Architects.

The key building material, Hemcrete®, is being provided by product manufacturer Lime Technology and the development is being overseen by client’s agent Benchmark Property.

The build programme runs from the end of January until early May 2009. The timber frame will be completed by early March upon completion of which the spray applied Hemcrete® walls will commence. Other key components in the design and build process include high performance triple glazed timber window, a heat recovery ventilation system, air source heat pump and an underfloor heating system.  

Dr John Williams of NNFCC commented “The construction industry faces challenging times; new homes must be built but at low cost and low carbon footprint.  This house will show how innovation in the UK construction industry can meet all these aims by using renewable materials. What’s more, we can grow the crops here.  If just 1% of the UK’s agricultural land was used to grow hemp, it would be enough to build our entire target of 180,000 homes per year”.

Once completed, the house’s performance will be monitored over a three year period in order to establish evidence of the performance characteristics and the sustainability profile of renewable building materials. It is anticipated the development will demonstrate that low costs and renewable building methods are compatible and together they provide a viable method of delivering sustainable, affordable homes.

So far there has been a wealth of examples of how environmental techniques can be utilised for one-off designs. However, the Renewable House looks to provide a solution to meeting the Government’s target of up to 250,000 sustainable, affordable and desirable homes.

The Renewable House will achieve Level 4 of the CSH (Code for Sustainable Homes) by material choice alone, with optional packages available to boost this to levels 5 and 6. This would be a big step towards meeting the Government’s aim of making all UK homes reach Level 6 by 2016. As a three bedroom detached house, it can be modified to produce both semi-detached and terraced housing.

One of the key renewable elements of the house is its use of hemp. This product is used to produce Lime Technology’s Tradical® Hemcrete® – a lightweight, insulating carbon negative concrete that will form the walls of The Renewable House. A number of other key supply partners are involved in the project. This includes structural engineers AKS Ward and mechanical and electrical consultants Sico Consulting.

www.renewable-house.co.uk