Tag: better homes

HPH304 : What are digitally manufactured houses? – with Bruce Bell from Facit Homes

Bruce Bell, founder of Facit Homes, explains why digital manufacturing has a lot to offer in the future of house-building.

Interview with Bruce Bell

Bruce Bell’s working life has been spent at the intersection between the digital side of construction and architecture. He originally studied industrial design but then went on to work for Norman Foster’s architecture practice in London. He then returned to his studies at the Royal College of Art in London and did a masters degree that focused on digital fabrication. He then ran a traditional architecture practice with a couple of friends. However, all the time, he was drawn to the potential of using digital manufacturing for building homes.

In 2008 he set up Facit Homes to develop these ideas.

Diana Woodward‘s home, built by Facit Homes, featured on Grand Designs back in 2012.

Digital information is used directly to make components and assemblies

Construction is overwhelmingly analogue. And there’s very few projects, or relatively few projects, that I would classify as being digital.

Buildings have been designed on computers for years. The big difference here, however, is that the digital information is then used directly to make components, parts or assemblies. So it’s that direct translation from the 3D computer model into physical parts by computers or computer controlled machines that is digital fabrication.

This is not to be confused with pre-fabrication, which in some instances can even be carried out by hand.

A CNC cutter

Digital manufacturing creates jobs that people want to do

The construction industry suffers from a skill shortage where there are not enough people to all the physical work. This is a product of building in a traditional way, but it could be different. Bruce believes that embracing digital manufacturing would move people into different positions and create more jobs for educated and professional people.

There is consistency because they control the whole process

Facit Homes has become a turnkey provider, doing everything from the concept, design, planning, manufacturing, construction, construction management, all the way through to handover to the customer.

This is to get around the fragmented nature of construction.

Bruce reflects on his years of running a small architectural practice where there would be consultants, engineers, M & E, specialists suppliers, a contractor and of course the customer.

Who’s really controlling the situation? It could be very much influenced by any one party’s interests. So maybe the contractor has issues or maybe the client wants to take control too much, or maybe the architect is trying to push themselves around. It’s not a very solid structure.

In manufacturing one company will take responsibility and put their name to the product, even if they don’t do everything themselves.

This means there’s a single point of contact for the customer and a better experience all round.

Digital manufacturing is more flexible than prefabrication

Digital manufacturing is flexible because it is based on digital tooling rather than physical tooling. Prefabrication generally relies on a physical space and an assembly line.

You might have wall modules being put together, or roof modules or maybe even whole rooms. And they’re very reliant on the physical setup that allows you to make it. And that means they’re very standardized.

When it comes to housing no two homes (or sites) are the same and therefore the customer is always looking for a bespoke solution.

Digital manufacturing can deliver on these requirements no matter what the conditions.

A suite of core products simplifies the process

Bruce explains that they’ve worked hard to develop core products within the business. For example, every house will have the same heating system, one of two different foundation systems, the same timber frame chassis, the same roofing detail and the same window system.

This consistency of products throughout each property allows Facit Homes to deliver the projects for a fixed price, on time and fulfil the customer’s brief.

Costings are considered much earlier than a traditional project

The first few steps of Facit Homes’ customer journey are not too dissimilar to what you might expect working with a traditional architecture practice. There’s a site appraisal and a customer appraisal. They will look at the constraints of the site and the customer’s brief, and try to marry those things together.

We have some data-sets and tools that allow us to establish costs at a very, very early stage so that we can develop the brief with the customer and we can make sure that the house is the right size, and it’s something that they can afford.

Facit Homes only makes money through construction so it’s in their interest to get comprehensive costings and make sure the customer can afford the completed home.

3D visualisation is a key tool

A team of architects design the house, taking into consideration the brief and understanding the light, the access, the views, and so on.

Each step of the way, from concept to working out the layouts in more detail, they get reviewed with the customer.

Because we build everything in 3D, naturally as part of our design process, we have a real time rendering application which allows us to walk through with light and shade and sunshine and materials, and understand how the building will look and feel. And that’s great for both us, the design team, and obviously also for the customer. So they really understand what it is they’re getting.

They take a holistic approach to sustainability

Facit Homes have considered everything from embodied energy to the manufacturing process, transport, as well as the operational energy use of each house.

They are always looking for materials with a low embodied energy. Interestingly Bruce describes one situation where they had to switch away from using a cellulose (plant-based) fibre to a petrochemical product because it was hard to get a consistent standard of installation with the ‘blown in’ fibre.

However, of the two choices of petrochemical insulations on the table, there was a huge discrepancy in embodied energy.

What the choice came down to for us was between polyurethane insulation and polystyrene insulation. So polystyrene insulation uses only about 5% of the energy that polyurethane insulation uses in its creation. So that really helped inform the choices for all of the products that we use.

The graphite treated polystyrene bead they now use has a much better flow rate and fills volumes better. Plus it has a slightly better thermal performance.

The building envelope is environmentally optimised

The buildings are all super-insulated and score well in terms of airtightness (normally between 1.2 and 2.2 air changes per hour at 50 Pascals).

However, Bruce believes the additional investment to achieve Passivhaus standard levels of airtightness is hard to justify.

To get full Passivhaus certification, you very much have to be designing your home as a Passivhaus from the start. And it really affects the way that the building is orientated and the size of the openings and all sorts of things. And quite frankly our buildings already have enough constraints. They are quite often in urban situations where we’re responding to all sorts of different design parameters. So it’s just not realistic, I don’t think.

They are keeping an eye on battery technology development

They often review their core products to make sure they are still the best choices. So they have installed a few more air source heat pumps recently.

They are also looking at photovoltaic panels again. With feed-in tariffs so low now, a key consideration is always whether that energy will be used. So when home battery technology gets better then it will be a great advance to make use of power that you’ve generated over a longer period of time.

Connectivity is the big change that is needed

Building information modelling has become a fairly standard tool in the construction industry, but connecting all this information directly to the supply chain is non existent.

Bruce explains how this gap could be filled.

For example, there are window manufacturers components on the internet, and you can go and download them. But they’re not built very well, they are inconsistent, they don’t really have all the design options. So you have to rebuild it from scratch with all the information, all the parameters that you need. And then we’ve built systems so that we can exchange data with a window manufacturer… So for the wider industry to adopt these kind of techniques, that gap needs to be filled. Or alternatively, you’re going to see companies who are disruptors, like us, who do everything themselves.

Facit Homes is digitally manufacturing on site again

When Facit Homes featured on the Grand Designs programme back in 2012 they demonstrated digital manufacturing on site using their mobile CNC machine. Since then they have been manufacturing in a factory.

However, deeply understanding the pros and cons of each set-up, they are now returning to site.

You can see people or companies who are heavily investing in modular off site construction, which will grow, but it still will only ever end up being maybe 10% of the market at most, and the other 90% of the market who are building things on site. And for me, that’s a really exciting area because it’s unexplored, you know, nobody’s ever really said. What can we do with this? So for me, that’s the most interesting bit is traditional construction, how we can change it.

Flower House

Find out more

Visit the website of Facit Homes

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Transcript

Transcript-of-House-Planning-Help-podcast-episode-304 A full transcript of this episode

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August 25, 2021
Encore episode : How big should your new house be?
We re-run an interview from 2013 with architect and author Sarah Susanka on the importance of scale. We discuss how much space we really need when we build a new home.

Interview with Sarah Susanka

In 1971, at the age of fourteen, Sarah moved with her family to Los Angeles from a little village in Kent with a population of a thousand people. Her new high school was three times the size of the village where she’d grown up. Having lived in both the UK and the US, Sarah’s perspective enables her to comment on the American house and American development habits and how to build differently.

The feeling of ‘home’ comes from the qualities it possesses, not its size

Recent hard economic times have woken people up to the recognition that they want something that looks nice and feels nice to live in, but they don’t need as much stuff and space as they thought they did.

Sarah bases her approach on the principle that it is the qualities of a home that really make us feel inspired. Her advice is to shape the whole space not just the floor plan. She mentions ‘A Pattern Language’ by Christopher Alexander, which is a good reminder for self-builders that they already have inside them an understanding of building and architecture.

Sarah describes using a set of tools to think about space. Her fourth book ‘Home by Design’, dedicated to Christopher Alexander, helps homeowners to absorb and then apply these principles, with illustrations that readers would be familiar with. These archetypes for designing and building include many features known to British homeowners, such as nooks and crannies or window seats within thick walls. Alcoves such as these satisfy a human desire to be in a smaller space, looking into a larger room.

Build the square footage you need, rather than all kinds of spaces that get used very rarely

People build bigger and bigger houses thinking that somehow this is going to get them the sense of home they are looking for. However, referencing the sensibility of the Arts and Crafts movement, Sarah promotes the idea that less can sometimes be more.

Some people go wrong because they don’t know how to ask for a well-designed house where every square foot can be used every day.

A poor little house is trapped between two mansions!

Rooms can serve more than one purpose

The best way is to build informal spaces that are used every day. For example:
- With clever lighting design you can adjust the lighting in a living room to make it more suitable for entertaining
- A dining area can be your everyday space but can also be a formal space when you need it to be
- A guest bedroom can double up as an in-home office
When Sarah designs a house, she tries to make sure it has a workspace in it that can be the in-home office allowing people to work virtually. We no longer need to meet and work in one place, since technology allows us to talk to each other so easily. As Sarah works with architects in several different states, she has seen how working remotely is becoming far more acceptable. Moreover, working from home is another way to save a lot of energy.

Ultimately the amount of space depends on the individual who is building a house. Sarah encourages them to make decisions in a way that really benefits their lifestyle.

Make your house personal because that’s what will make you fall in love with it

The way to make your house really feel as though it fits you is to start by looking at what it is that you like. Don’t be afraid to make your house your own just because you’ve been told it will make it harder to sell later.

Human beings respond to beauty. If we create something that we’re proud of, that is beautiful, we tend to look after it. Therefore beauty has to be at the core of any really sustainable home.

Sustainability is about creating something that is going to last for a very long time

Whether you call it sustainability, or green design or energy efficient design, building your own home not only needs to look after you and your family, but also the community, the neighbourhood and the planet as a whole.

Good design will help you build a home that gives you what you want while needing the minimum amount of resources for heating, cooling and maintenance. Sarah designs all her houses to be energy efficient and well insulated and have good indoor air quality.

Everyday exchanges are vital to feeling connected to one another, fostering a sense of community

Sarah recalls how there was no need to walk anywhere after the move to Los Angeles. But when you pass people in a car you don’t get to talk to them; you don’t get to stop and ask how they are doing. This phenomenon is typical of America as a lot of the country was developed after the advent of the automobile. Comparing the US and the UK, she comments: “There’s such a wonderful sense of community in so many of the towns and villages in England that is largely absent in this country”.

Sarah is now seeing that the millennial and baby boomer generations are both really interested in downsizing and living closer to a town centre or in a place that is walkable.

Find out more about Sarah Susanka

The Not So Big House

The Not So Big Life

Follow Sarah on Twitter

Check out Sarah’s Facebook page

Old Holloway Passivhaus Blog

Juraj Mikurcik is building his own home in Herefordshire and is documenting the process as he goes.

The house is built with Ecococon straw bale panels and is clad in charred cedar. There is also a tin roof.

Juraj is a great photographer and that really helps this blog come to life.

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November 16, 2016
7 Learnings from the ‘Retrofit for the Future’ Programme

Would you like to make your current house more energy efficient?

Is there something that is holding you back from upgrading it?

In this article, architect Marion Baeli from Paul Davis + Partners shares some of the key findings from the Retrofit for the Future programme. She is also author of new book Residential Retrofit: 20 Case Studies.

If you’re anything like me you think the idea of retrofitting your house is a good one. You can lower the running costs, increase the comfort levels and do your bit for the environment at the same time.

Where it gets a bit hazy is in what this will mean in practice. Will your house end up looking completely different? Will the investment be worth it? Will you hire contractors that really know what they’re doing? It’s not helped by the fact that every house is different!

Retrofit for the Future

In 2009 there was a UK government funded programme called Retrofit for the Future, whereby £17 million was allocated to retrofit 100 properties in England and Wales. The houses included everything from period properties with solid masonry walls to more modern steel and timber frame constructions – in other words a complete cross section of the UK housing stock. The strategies were different too – insulation on the outside, inside or a hybrid of the two.

The whole exercise was about learning but each project was aiming to fulfil these main criteria:

• 80% reduction in CO₂ emissions (compared to 1990 emissions)
• CO₂ emissions limited to 17 kg per m²per year
• Primary Energy limited to 115 kWh per m²per year

A few years down the line and all the projects have been completed, and the data from them has been analysed. While, overall, the houses did not meet the targets there was a significant improvement in all of them.

• 70% reduction in CO₂ emissions (compared to pre-retrofit), which is just 10% short of the target.
• CO₂ emissions were 26 kg per m²per year, which is 15% above limiting target.
• Primary energy demand was 161 kWh per m²per year. Although 40% above the limiting target, this still represents a 67% reduction from the primary energy demand pre retrofit.

1. Any House Can be Retrofitted

One key takeaway from this programme is that all the houses were retrofitted! There was never a concern that one of the buildings would have to drop out because it just couldn’t be done.

Marion Baeli says: “Obviously some are easier to retrofit. For example, a terraced house has a form factor that is more forgiving than a detached bungalow house, which has a lot more surface area so therefore a lot more heat loss area. So there’s a lot more work, a lot more insulation to put in as opposed to a terraced house. Some houses are easier to achieve a significant reduction in energy demand than some others.”

2. Retrofits Are Disruptive

If you’re thinking that a retrofit is an easy way to transition to a low energy building then think again. For example, even if you are only doing work externally the need to change windows will affect the internal decoration of a room.

All teams commented on the level of disruption, so go into a retrofit realising how disruptive it will be.

Although Retrofit for the Future was not about phased retrofits, it’s worth bearing in mind that if you did tackle your house in phases that each phase would be disruptive. You need to weigh up whether it’s better to wait until a point where you can do it all in one go.

3. Do it Properly or Don’t Do it at All

While you’re going to want your retrofit to be as cost effective as possible, don’t compromise on quality as it will backfire.

Expect a retrofit to be expensive as Marion explains: “It’s better not to do anything rather than trying to do something for £10,000, I think, because you’re going to end up with a project that is not holistic or a series of measures that are not comprehensive and are not working with each other. So if you do the insulation but not the airtightness or not the windows you’re going to have condensation issues so it’s important to understand a retrofit as a whole house measure.”

Your retrofit will need to address the insulation, airtightness, ventilation, thermal bridges and so on. Even if you only did one area of your house you can’t pick and choose the elements, it must be cohesive.

4. An Experienced Project Coordinator is Critical to Success

Communication is very important on site as work is carried out. There are still many tradespeople who are retrofit virgins, so it makes the role of a project coordinator all the more important. That person needs to have a broad knowledge about everything to do with the retrofit and also be able to make sure that each different company understands the work of the others and respects it. This team collaboration must exist. If the electrician, for example, doesn’t understand the concept of airtightness and drills on the membrane everywhere, it’s going to compromise the overall performance of the house.

5. Not All Retrofits Reflect in the Value of the House

While you would think that retrofitting a house would add to its value, that is not necessarily the case. Therefore retrofitting may make more sense in places where the property prices are higher, such as London.

Marion illustrates with a case study: “One of the houses that I’m looking at has been retrofitted and the cost is about £110,000 or something like this for the whole retrofit, including energy saving measures and non energy saving measures so bathroom, kitchen etc. but the house is only worth £90,000. Do we demolish these houses and just build brand new?”

Demolishing housing stock comes with its own issues. The Pathfinder Housing Market Renewal scheme in the north of England was traumatic for the communities involved. They had to come to terms with being relocated while their old houses were knocked down. There is also the embodied energy to consider.

“There’s a lot of papers that have been written about the environmental cost of demolishing – rebuilding versus retrofitting. Of what I’ve read it seems that retrofitting is more environmentally worth it because there’s so much embodied energy in the house already that it’s better not to waste it. And the embodied energy in the new materials that you introduce in a retrofit can be paid back in terms of CO₂ cost fairly quickly – in 10 or 15 years maximum, even a bit less depending on what you’re doing.”

6. There are Economies of Scale When Retrofitting

Retrofitting your house is great, but if there were some way of doing a whole street retrofit this would be far more efficient. The main hurdles to jump would be how to get a group of private owners to work together and also how a collaboration like this would be financed.

Interestingly the greatest strides in retrofitting are being made by housing associations as Marion explains: “One of the reasons the housing associations are retrofitting is because they’re sick of having tenants complaining about the lack of internal comfort. The amount of money they’re spending trying to make their tenants happy and trying to find solutions against condensation is so important in their budget and in their time. They’re really interested in looking at whole house retrofit – big measures to resolve it once and for all. I’ve discussed this with several housing associations and they’re all saying this. It’s just so time consuming to deal with complaints of poor internal comfort.”

7. There’s a Lack of Understanding Around Low Energy Building

Perhaps most surprising is the lack of understanding that the general public have around retrofitting. You’re not going to want to upgrade your home if you have a fear of living in an airtight house! There was also confusion that a low energy house actually might be one where you wouldn’t be able to have a TV or other gadgets.

Marion recounts how perceptions change: “The tenant of the retrofit that I did, everybody told her that she was mad to go into this project and live into this eco house. Now they all want to live with her because in the winter she wears t-shirts because it’s 23 degrees and it’s 16 in their houses so they’re kind of seeing the benefits of it.”

Ongoing Research is Necessary

The houses that took part in Retrofit for the Future averaged a 67% reduction in primary energy demand compared to before the retrofits, which is a considerable difference. While it may show that achieving an 80% reduction is not possible, close to 70% is possible on all sorts of types of properties. It is also still a new domain. More research is needed into costs, procurement, training and methodology.

Marion Baeli’s book Residential Retrofit: 20 Case Studies aims to inspire people into action by showing them what others have already done. Marion also believes that we should embrace this as an opportunity rather than considering it a daunting challenge. There are 100 properties that have been retrofitted to this standard (in the UK), so the skills are in the market and these people can do it again.

November 18, 2013
HPH004 : The Passivhaus Standard #2 with Dr Wolfgang Feist (Passive House)
Dr Wolfgang Feist describes how better energy efficiency opens a path to making us less dependent on fossil fuels and we have that knowledge now.

Interview with Dr Wolfgang Feist

Dr Feist explains that his early research in the 1970s was addressing how to deliver the growing demand for energy in the world. When examining what the energy was used for, the surprising result was that most of it was wasted. So improving energy efficiency was the clear route forward. If you consider the services you need then you can design a building in a way that it uses far less energy. Scientifically speaking this is quite easy to do; the bigger challenge is getting that through to the market.

The Passivhaus Standard is Very High Energy Efficiency

By improving the building’s envelope you reduce the energy losses you normally have, so that you only need a very low amount of heat to keep it warm or cooling to keep it cool. This is in the range of a tenth of what we used to need in the past. It not only reduces the amount of energy you need but it also improves the comfort in the building, too. With a far higher quality of building envelope, another benefit is that it lasts longer. And, as it’s simpler, it becomes easier to maintain.

Passivhaus Principles Can Be Widely Used

Dr Feist explains that a building that meets the Passivhaus standard can be of any style and for an purpose (offices, swimming halls, schools and dwellings etc.). It also lends itself to any kind of material: masonry, timber construction, load bearing structures with concrete, whatever you want.

Old Habits Die Hard in The Construction Industry

As a very conservative industry, the construction industry tends to do what they have always done and that means it’s not easy. However, change is becoming more rapid. The key is that they must decide they want to learn this new way of doing things.

Energy Will Only Get More Expensive

Our energy problems are not in the future, they are happening right now. Over the last ten years the cost of energy has risen significantly and that is set to continue – fuel poverty already exists. Also, the consequences of using fossil fuels on such a large scale mean that we have a growing amount of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in the earth’s atmosphere. We need to change the way we use energy. Using less energy will in turn burn less fossil fuel and thus reduce CO2 emissions. Currently, around the world, over 80% of our energy still comes from fossil fuels.

The Passivhaus Standard is a World Standard

Dr Feist says that the Passivhaus standard is a world standard, but it is a method of doing things. Therefore what works in one country cannot necessarily be transposed to another. It’s a method of how to design a building compatible to the climate in which you reside.

Passive House Principles

In the UK’s situation, insulation is the most important factor. It must be in such a way that it avoids thermal bridging. Then the building must be airtight, which is something they have not been in the past. Improved windows have a very high influence on the energy balance of building, too. Due to the airtightness, a ventilation system is also necessary. So the four factors are insulation, airtightness, good windows and ventilation.

Passivhaus Standard Certification

It is well documented what a building is that meets the Passivhaus standard. That’s why certification allows you to know that the building meets the criteria. In the UK the Passivhaus Trust has a list of certifiers. If you come to sell a house, this certification becomes a quality and performance guarantee.

A Future Worth Living

Through his research at the Passivhaus Institute Dr Feist is creating better components, such as more efficient windows. He’s motivated by seeing new projects realised. Recently he has been working with the city of Frankfurt to build the world’s first Passivhaus hospital. The government and European Commission are seeing the huge benefits and encouraging this advance. Dr Feist also helps organisations around the world to gain members and knowledge.

How World Governments Can Play Their Part in Driving Forward Energy Efficiency

The most important stride could be made by governments creating an environment where innovation is accepted. Incentives can also play a part and they don’t have to involve money. Dr Feist details an example in Italy where truly energy efficient house builders are allowed to build on a bigger proportion of the land they own. That way it doesn’t cost the taxpayer any money, but it does provide investors with an incentive to build energy efficient homes. Governments can also circulate literature about how to improve efficiency in new construction and in refurbishment of existing buildings.

Timing is Everything When Retrofitting Existing Housing

The best time to improve the energy efficiency of a house is when something needs to be done anyway. As our existing housing is not static, but in a cycle, there will come a time when repairs etc. are necessary. This is the time to improve energy efficiency… when the scaffolding would be going up anyway. Dr Feist stresses the importance of going for the best products, too. This is because the job may not be done again for many years.

A Path Away From Fossil Fuels

Based on the physics there is no need to use energy to create comfortable temperatures in buildings. Energy savings could be reduced further, not to zero but to almost zero. However, there is a certain amount of renewable energy available and with the advances of Passivhaus they reduce energy consumption to 1/10 of what it has been in the past. Therefore the required energy is low enough that it will be available from regional sources anywhere in the world without a big problem. So in the end there is no need to go much further than that but of course it could happen.

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Dr Wolfgang Feist.

We Need Your Input

It may be early days but we want your feedback on the House Planning Help Podcast. What are you enjoying? How could we improve? What would you like to know more about? Your answers will help shape future episodes. We would also like to create video tutorials during a house build, if that is content that will be useful to you. Have your say now!

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September 11, 2012
HPH002 : The House Design You Want And The Low Running Costs – with Martin Evans from The Malthouse Consultancy
Martin Evans from The Malthouse Consultancy talks through how he built his own energy efficient home.

Interview with Martin Evans

Martin explains that he has been in construction all his life, starting as a civil engineer before moving into building. In the early nineties he experimented with renewable technologies and higher levels of insulation. This process developed through to the point where he built an example of a country house that is not compromised by any design constraints, but is built to be as energy efficient as possible.

Energy Efficiency Doesn’t Have to Dictate The Design

Martin describes how he set about designing a house (6,500 sq ft) that best suited the site and took advantage of the lovely views. Having created the optimum design, he then worked out how it could use the least energy possible. The main considerations are very high levels of insulation that go a long way above building regulations; the house is carefully air-sealed so there’s very little ingress of cold air from the outside during the winter; there is also a mechanical ventilation system (imported from Canada) to avoid stuffy conditions and fresh air passes through an efficient heat exchanger. Martin also generates his own energy from a ground source heat pump, which provides the main energy for the heating and hot water for the house. His total running costs are under £2000 a year.

Energy Efficiency is The Future

The UK has not been good with energy in the past and has not built houses that are deliberately low energy, other than rather odd looking houses. Martin says that he wanted to demonstrate with his house that you don’t need to compromise on the look or the amount of glass, you just need to be careful in the way you specify and the way you build.

LED Lighting

Advances are happening all the time and Martin describes how LED lighting has moved on since his build nearly five years ago. He highlighted the fact that when you dim a light it doesn’t necessarily use less energy. So try to install a properly controlled lighting system, where the energy usage is proportional. Martin rarely needs to run his lighting in any room above 30% or 40%.

Renewable Technology Can Be Used in Old Houses

Martin talks about period homes that can be very efficiently heated by renewable technologies, such as ground source heat pumps. The key is to recognise the needs and to deliver a system that works properly. In the example of ground source, he said: “You can put in a very good ground source heat pump, which in theory can deliver the right energy for the house but if the heat emitters in the house aren’t matched to give you the optimum performance of that heat pump, you very quickly get a big drop in performance of that heat pump. So you’ll still get the house warm but it will cost you a lot more in energy. That’s just about not understanding the full process of extraction of energy from the ground and delivery of energy into the houses.” Martin believes you can make any house efficient.

Sustainability in New Builds

Martin likes timber frames, mainly because there’s very little embodied energy. He points to Canada as a good example of sustainability in wood – they grow the same amount of wood as they extract. That may not be true in Europe but things are moving in that direction. It’s much harder with brick and concrete products because they’ve got a lot more embedded energy in them. However, when you actually look at the energy lifetime of the building, the energy we put into heating it, living in it and ventilating it, it makes the energy involved in the actual construction look relatively insignificant. Martins says it’s probably right that we focus on what the building uses once it’s completed as the priority, rather than worrying about how much is embedded in the building process.

An Energy Tax Might Provide The Right Incentives

With predictions that fuel costs will continue to rise, Martin hopes that the UK government will move away from trying to support certain technologies. If that approach is made much more general and it is just applied as an energy tax, which encourages us to do the right thing, then people will become more and more incentivised to reduce the energy that their buildings use. We may want to do it for altruistic reasons but also it needs to be the right thing to do financially.

The Passivhaus Standard

Martin explains that he didn’t have his house certified but in terms of energy use, it exceeds the Passivhaus Standard. Whether you use a standard like Passivhaus absolutely or as a guide, there are lots of good learnings to be had from the methodology and approach.

Gauging Your Carbon Footprint

Martin talks about his consultancy work with England’s largest hotel group where, from the outset, they designed and built hotels to the very lowest energy possible without changing the customer experience. The carbon footprint of a night’s stay at one of these eco hotels compared to a top end, ‘energy is no object’ approach, is about 50 times less. As people start to understand the choices, it could also influence their decision-making. With cars it is a lot more straightforward – you know what you are getting – but with houses and overnight stays etc. it’s much more difficult. Of course, it’s moving in the right direction. On the Carbon Trust website you can benchmark your energy usage.

Getting The Right Advice

There are lots of examples of things going wrong, where people have spent a lot of money and don’t get the right results. It’s usually about not getting the right advice. Quality of installation varies so dramatically that Martin stresses the importance of seeing how installed projects have worked. To do that you need proper data that shows the energy you’ve put into a scheme and the energy you got out so you can see how efficient the whole installation is. Martin wouldn’t buy from companies that can’t demonstrate seasonal figures showing how well their installations have performed.

There is Smarter Cooling Than Air Conditioning

Air conditioning is not energy efficient. In America they spend more money and more energy on cooling than they do on heating and Martin emphasises that we shouldn’t be moving in that direction. There are ways of making very efficient comfort cooling in a house without using much energy. This means simultaneous heating and cooling of hot water. If at the same time as generating hot water we are generating cold water, then it’s a free by-product of the process if we do it right. So you don’t want a gas boiler heating your hot water cylinder and an air conditioning unit cooling your lounge, for example. We can be much smarter.

Martin’s Tips For Energy Efficiency
- Make energy a consideration at the outset but it doesn’t have to compromise your design.
- Technology should be a long way down your list of priorities. Design it right, specify it right, insulate it to very high levels, seal it well and mechanically ventilate it.
- Invest in the best products. They may not be a substantial premium but they will save more energy and should perform well in 40 or 50 years.
The Malthouse Consultancy

The Malthouse Consultancy is a highly acclaimed independent environmental consultancy providing unbiased advice and project management services to property professionals in the planning design and construction fields.

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Martin Evans.

Listeners’ Top 3 Tips

In episode 1 Ben Adam-Smith asked for your top 3 tips if you had been through the building process or commissioned a custom build. Carol from France got in touch with 7 tips, which we decided ought to feature as an article.

Listener Email About Poor Housing Development

Anastasia from Pevensey, UK, wrote an email about her previous house in Sovereign Harbour South. She tells us that, despite the building being 15 years old, it seemed to lack even basic insulation. Consequently her bills were sky high. She described the worst part as being the damp and mould, with fungus growing all over the house. However, the house design also left a lot to be desired with bedrooms that barely had room for the beds and a large part of the living space that was practically unusable as it was under the stairs.

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August 13, 2012
One week until the podcast launches!

The clock is ticking down to the first episode of the House Planning Help Podcast. It’s one week today that we launch with great guests lined up including eminent physicist Dr Wolfgang Feist, Pat Wilkinson from Touchwood Homes, Martin Evans from The Malthouse Consultancy, Simon Lewis from RW Armstrong, Adam Dadeby from Passivhaus Homes, and of course lots more. It’ll be available to download from iTunes but if you want to make sure you don’t miss it, sign up for the mailing list using the form to the right.

Check out the trailer by clicking here.

July 25, 2012