Tag: cross-laminated timber

HPH248 : The benefits of joining a cohousing development – with Jan Chadwick

Resident of Marmalade Lane cohousing, Jan Chadwick, explains why living in a multi-generational community is so important to her.

Interview with Jan Chadwick

Jan Chadwick and her husband became interested in cohousing after reading a newspaper article in 2013 about the benefits of community as you get older.

After carrying out some research and staying with a cohousing group in Stroud for an immersion weekend, they decided that their current lifestyle and location wouldn’t provide them with enough of a sense of community as they moved into older age.

It’s about being neighbourly, not about providing care

For Jan, it wasn’t about living in a community that would provide care as they got older, but one that would provide neighbourliness. With plenty of research showing that people who are engaged with a community can stay ‘younger’ for longer, as they are more active mentally and physically, Jan and her husband knew this was the way they wanted to live.

They were happy to relocate to find the right project

With the K1 Cambridgeshire project they were encouraged that the land had already been purchased and there seemed an active way forward to making the idea a reality.

Our podcast with Chris Wilson of the K1 cohousing group explains how the scheme was set up.

“We’ve broken a lot of moulds – and the design guidance!”

The site has a belt of mature trees that they and the planners wanted to retain, so this was an element of the design layout that didn’t change. The rest of the design went through a long process of changes at various stages until they reached the final layout which enhances community, the environment and offers the southern open aspect that they wanted for energy performance.

A multi-agency project

There have been lots of different groups involved in bringing the scheme to fruition. Initially there was a relationship between the cohousing group, Cambridgeshire Cohousing Limited, and the City Council, with the City Council helping to get the project started, and initially providing the payment for their project manager.

They then applied for money from the Homes and Communities Agency to work out their client brief, which they did over a number of workshops with Jim Ross and his team at Cambridge Architectural Research.

With their 60 page brief they were able to work again with the council to develop a tender for a developer. The group were heavily involved in the tender process, ensuring they would get the quality they wanted for the building of the houses and environment.

Their chosen developer, TOWN, created a consortium with Trivselhus, a large Swedish housebuilder. They worked with Mole Architects to develop the design and tick the boxes required by South Cambridgeshire District Planning Authority.

The transport links make it an ideal location for the residents

The site is well located for public transport, with the new North Cambridge railway station just a bike ride away. It is also on the guided bus route which leads into the centre of Cambridge, and is right next to the A14.

Each property has one parking space, and a quarter share of a visitor parking space. And, being Cambridge, they also have 146 bike spaces!

It is a multi-generational cohousing development

Creating a multi-generational development was a key requirement of the group, and as such, they have properties sized from one to five bedrooms. It was also important for enabling residents to have the opportunity to upsize or downsize within the development later on.

The original members were able to configure the design for their particular property, with the remaining unsold properties being configured by Mole Architects.

With 42 properties on the site, there will likely be over 100 people on site when fully sold, so it was important that the facilities will accommodate the growing numbers.

They wanted a garden they could use as productive land, a wild space for growing, a common house where they could interact with the community and quiet rooms for retreat.

There are also three bedrooms in the common house that can be used by guests.

Many of the properties are future-proofed

The properties are built to a standard developed by Trivselhus, which is to around 70% of Passivhaus, and Jan says that they hardly ever have the heating on in her apartment. Hers was built using Cross Laminated Timber, delivered from Europe.

As a group they decided that they didn’t want gas. They chose to go electric so they could use renewables in the future, and all the houses have air source heat pumps.

The apartments are Lifetime Homes compliant, as are the larger houses, with some having wet rooms. They are wheelchair accessible and are able to put in hoists if required. Their particular building also has lift access.

They are designed to be a modern take on a typical Cambridge terrace

Jan describes the lane and houses as looking like a fairly typical terrace, in keeping with the older terraces of Cambridge while also not looking out of place if it were in the Netherlands, due to the large windows.

Planning conditions meant that the building on the south west corner had to be designed as a landmark building. It houses two apartments and a gym and workshop underneath.

The common house has a square design. It has a woodburning stove, which has only been used once as it hasn’t been needed, and like all the houses it has underfloor heating and plenty of natural light.

Moving in was in two phases

Moving in was coordinated so that some people moved in just before Christmas 2018, and some just after.

When setting up the common areas they agreed that what people didn’t want in their own homes but thought could be used elsewhere, they could donate. As part of a quarterly community work day they had a selection process where they decided whether they could use those donated items and in which areas.

They have a budget for furnishing the common house and any other bits and pieces they still needed were purchased from that fund.

Living there has exceeded expectations

Now four months in, Jan says living there has exceeded all her expectations, both from a community point of view, and also with how happy they are with the construction of their homes, their quality and the energy efficiency.

Find out more

Visit the website of Marmalade Lane

Find out more about the K1 community

Follow Cambridge Cohousing on Twitter

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Jan Chadwick.

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May 1, 2019
HPH177 : Redeveloping a brown field site for a contemporary home – with Ruth Butler
Architect Ruth Butler shares the story of building a contemporary Passivhaus on an overlooked, brownfield site.

Interview with Ruth Butler

Ruth has been an architect for a number of years and was previously a partner at a practice in London. Part of the reason that she and her engineer husband left London for the south coast, where she has been running Ruth Butler Architects for several years now, was for the opportunity to build their own home.

Planning permission on a previous plot helped fund this project

After a long search they found a back garden plot but weren’t able to get planning permission on it for what they wanted to live in. Instead they decided to opt for a design that would get planning permission, and sell the land for a profit which they could use to bankroll the first few months build on their new site.

Clearing the brownfield site was an opportunity, rather than a constraint

The site had been the regional headquarters of St. John’s Ambulance and had a big, robust garage building on it which used to house the ambulances. The existing garage was knocked down and the component parts recycled into the build, with the brickworks being recycled into the hardcore, and the steel beams being used to build their own garage.

One of the most significant constraints was that it was surrounded by 13 different neighbours, who were all keen to challenge anything being built on the site because of concerns for their own privacy. Ruth approached the neighbours and made it clear they were a family, not developers, and were keen to make their future there. She emphasised that she wasn’t interested in overlooking them, any more than they weren’t interested in being overlooked by her. By making a model of the proposed building and neighbouring properties, they were able to demonstrate how the property would look and how it would impact on the surroundings.

Ruth and her husband enjoyed the challenge that the privacy issues and clearing the brownfield site threw up:

“The more constraints, the better the design has got to be to overcome them.”

Preparing the planning application took around a year, with getting the neighbours on side and getting the design right. The planning authority were supportive of the application, despite being a contemporary piece of architecture in a traditional setting, and they were granted planning permission without any problems or delays.

Design should complement the site and complement the way you want to live

Originally they would have liked a single storey dwelling, but the site wasn’t big enough and they also needed the height to shield some of the views from neighbours. Instead, the house has an L-shaped design which encloses a walled, entirely private courtyard garden. Traditionally entrance halls were used for draft-proofing, but with a Passivhaus that function isn’t required so they were able to re-think the entrance to their home. As you enter the front door you come directly into the kitchen, with the dining room and living room being at either end of the L-shape.

A pre-fabricated structure was chosen for a faster build

After selling their house to fund the project, they needed to rent while they were building so it was important to build quickly. They chose a cross-laminate timber structure which was pre-fabricated in Austria. It was erected and weather-tight in just 4 days on site. Completing the interior fit-out and exterior cladding took the whole build process to a total of 7 months.

The design challenged Passivhaus stereotypes

Although Ruth and her husband had been interested in Passivhaus they weren’t entirely sure they would be able to achieve it on this build. The site demanded a substantial size of building and their completed design is at least double the Passivhaus form factor rules. To ensure they have enough light in the single storey elements they have used roof lights and they have added more insulation to the roof and walls than they might otherwise have done. Where they have a large amount of glazing to create a good indoor-outdoor flow they have used sailcloth for shading which can be taken down in the autumn and deployed when it is needed.

The house has a Passivhaus cat-flap which is super-insulated and programmable to and operated by an ID chip on the individual cat. They don’t come cheap though, at around £1,800 installed!

“I think it’s really important that Passivhaus, you can prove that you can do good bespoke site-sensitive designs and still meet the Passivhaus standard. I don’t want to see a world full of very square, boxy solutions to Passivhaus designs, I want to see buildings that respond to their sites.”

The Landscape Architect was given design freedom

Ruth says that her clients would ideally give her a clear brief, knowing what they want to achieve and their functional requirements, without second-guessing what the design of their building might look like, as that essentially is part of her role. So when it came to the landscaping she was happy to give her Landscape Architect John Brooks a clear brief and the freedom to design it how he wanted.

“But I had been to see some of his work and I had made some assumptions in my mind as to how I thought he might tackle it and he entirely surprised me and came up with a design that took my breath away really.”

Ruth shares some helpful tips…
- It is important to design the inside and outside in tandem.
- Get the team right in the first instance. Their contractor hadn’t done Passivhaus before but that wasn’t important to Ruth. What mattered was whether they had the right attitude, and that applies to the whole design team.
…and lessons learned

If doing the project again she would:
- Change some of the technical details, such as instead choosing a pre-fabricated insulated slab.
- Use cross-ventilation in the bedrooms. The bedrooms are currently slightly warmer than she would like them to be.
Find out more

Visit the website of Ruth Butler Architects

Follow Ruth Butler on Twitter

Ruth’s building contractor – Nicholas Coppin Limited

Ruth’s landscape architect – John Brooks

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Ruth Butler.

Please connect with me
- Subscribe, rate and review the podcast in iTunes
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May 17, 2017
HPH145 : An urban infill that embraces simplicity – with Bernard Tulkens from Tectonics Architects
Architect Bernard Tulkens tells us about his award-winning Lansdowne Drive Passivhaus.

Interview with Bernard Tulkens

Bernard has been running his own architectural practice for the last 12 years, with a focus mainly on residential projects. He recently won the 2016 UK Passivhaus Trust Award – Urban category – for his Lansdowne Drive Passivhaus, the first Passivhaus he had designed, and for which he was the client.

Being a small, urban infill site led to many constraints

Bernard bought a house in 2004 in Hackney, East London, with a garden that had been extended by a previous owner. It made an ideal, small infill plot and he decided to build something to keep himself, rather than for sale. Although his parents-in-law now live there, he initially designed the building without a particular client in mind.

There were multiple constraints on the site. Being in a conservation area there were considerations around the massing, appearance, privacy of neighbours, light for neighbours, etc. The planners made the “suggestion” that it be half sunken, which was something Bernard could appreciate, although it cost him an additional £100,000! He is grateful that they allowed him to build something unique, despite being in an area of Victorian terraces. Planning permission was finally granted in 2010.

Groundworks added additional expense

The commencement of the project was delayed following the 2008 financial crisis, with banks being unwilling to lend to finance the project, particularly with Bernard having no experience of development.

Initially his plan was to build two smaller units with the intention of selling one and keeping the other, but that brought complications with the extra funding required and the council not being keen on the additional development. Bernard thinks they probably under-developed the site but is ultimately pleased with that decision as it has meant they haven’t had the financial obligation to sell.

The cost of building the shell was in line with Bernard’s predictions, though he had to spend an additional £80,000 on groundworks, excavating and enabling the site before construction started.

A small house with large spaces

Having to dig down meant that to a certain extent there were technical constraints about some of the materials that could be used on the house. Bernard explains that the idea of the construction and the idea of the space are intertwined. His vision was for it to be a small house with large spaces, and the use of cross-laminated timber offered the possibility of exposed construction. They are big elements that are installed in a simple way, are good environmentally and have low air leakage. The decision to use exposed concrete was partly financial and partly aesthetic, and came naturally when the materials were being assembled.

The Passivhaus element actually came quite late in the process. As the scheme developed Bernard realised that this way of building was allowing him to create good airtightness, be able to insulate well and eliminate all the cold bridges.

“And that’s what takes time on a project, to make sure that the various choices you make all end up pointing in the same direction rather than having conflicts between the different choices.”

Although a Passivhaus, it has no south-facing glazing

Initially Bernard was told by people that he spoke to that the site wouldn’t be suitable for building a Passivhaus. A couple of years later he met Peter Rankin, a Passivhaus Designer, who took on the challenge. The structure benefited from being very straightforward with continuous lines of insulation and no thermal bridging. By looking at the materials Peter was able to calculate their properties and found a balance between a lot of insulation in the walls and letting more sun in, using a more transparent glazing, from the west.

“That’s what I love about Passivhaus is that you can decide how you achieve it, all you’ve got to do is feed the properties of the material and the calculations into the planning system.”

So far the building has performed very well. The windows have roller blind shades that have micro-perforations that cast shadows while still giving views of the outdoors. The properties of the wood fibre mean it performs better than extruded polystyrene in terms of thermal inertia and thermal mass. Bernard will also be putting sedum on the flat roof which will help the protection on very hot days.

Keep it simple and supervise every step

Bernard stresses that Passivhaus requires a greater attention to detail, but by keeping the detail simple it will be easier to make.

Bernard was in the fortunate position that his office was next door so he was able to be on site sometimes up to 3 times a day which was a great help for supervising the works. Instead of using a general contractor, he would have a trade come in to do their job, analyse it, and then move on to the next.

The construction works took a year to complete

Once construction work started, the whole build was actually quite quick to complete. The concrete works took 6 weeks, followed by a two-day installation of the cross-laminated timber, window installation and wrapping the building in an airtightness layer, which took 2 months in total.

The internal fit-out took slightly longer because Bernard was waiting for individual trades, but in total the whole construction took a year to complete.

Summary

In summary, Bernard shares his main lessons learned from the project:
- A positive experience that he would do again.
- The decision to expose materials on the inside was determined more by finance and not having a particular client, but while lovely, may not suit everyone.
- Use natural materials: “You can feel it when the building is finished, and that’s a great lesson.”
- Managing to get lots of light into the building and keeping the rear garden makes it feel like a house, rather than an infill development.
- Be patient!
Find out more

Check out the Passivhaus Trust website

The Hub update

We are excited to announce that we have a new video case study that we are introducing into The Hub. Buckinghamshire Passivhaus is a timber frame build (with a floor area of 350m²) that uses the PH15 system from Passivhaus Homes. Architect Janet Cotterell will be our guide.

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September 7, 2016