Tag: ICF

HPH284 : Build It magazine’s Self Build Education House – with Calum Taylor and Opinder Liddar
Calum Taylor and Opinder Liddar talk through the design and construction of the ‘Self Build Education House’ at Graven Hill.

Interview with Calum Taylor and Opinder Liddar

Calum Taylor is the owner of Build It Magazine, the longest running self build magazine in the UK. Together with their website and exhibitions, their aim is to provide expert advice and information in a practical and down to earth manner, to help self builders make the difficult decisions as easy as possible.

Calum has been working on Build It’s Self Build Education House at Graven Hill with Opinder Liddar. Opinder is a director of lapd Architects. They are based in Oxfordshire and specialise in residential projects, particularly for self builders.

It is a showcase of possibilities

Coinciding with Build It magazine’s 30th anniversary, Calum’s idea for the Self Build Education House was to showcase the possibilities available to self builders by demonstrating the processes and some of the products that can be involved in a self build journey, whether or not they themselves were building at Graven Hill.

It would also be a great experience for Chris Bates, the magazine’s editor, to have hands-on involvement with the project management.

The house has been built on the Graven Hill development

Graven Hill is a ground-breaking development: the first of its kind in the UK. The land was formerly owned by the Ministry of Defence before being sold to Cherwell District Council to develop. The site has planning permission for 1800 new homes, up to half of which are designated for self build.

Calum says it has its fair share of cynics however, who question the plot sizes as being more like developer plots.

“But I think it’s incredibly important that for self-build to really become the norm in the UK as opposed to what is done by a relatively few, relatively wealthy people, that we need to look at different models and we need to look at how you can have fantastic housing on smaller plots of land. And if you can do that with the profit on the land going back into the local community via the council then that strikes me as being a perfect model.”

The plot passport outlines the parameters

A number of plots had been allocated for show home use and, following a tender process, Calum successfully won a corner plot around the back of the houses featured on Grand Designs: The Street.

Each plot comes with its own “plot passport” which defines certain parameters, such as maximum height and the footprint of where the house needs to be. With those established, the design can begin to develop as a response to the site aspects.

It needs to work as a showcase, and a home

In five years’ time the function will change from show house to a home that will be lived in, and this consideration formed part of the brief. It needs to have enough space for people to walk around in, while still feeling like a home.

“Primarily we want people to look at it as ‘I want to live here. This is an amazing house.’ We don’t want them to think, ‘this works very well as a museum.’”

With a plot restriction of 160m², the design was put in for planning at a size of 150m². The Graven Hill calculations don’t include basements and void spaces, so together with a basement plus an attic that would be prime for conversion, the overall area is closer to 230m².

The budget has been for high-end specification

Calum explains that the budget is rather difficult to define, as it’s not being constructed in the usual way. Typically a similar house might cost £2,000 per square metre, or around £470,000 in total. But as Build It’s complete guide to the house highlights, you could build the same size of house for substantially less if it wasn’t to the same high level of specification.

By adding in the expensive finishes and details, Calum explains that it is giving people the opportunity to look at where they want to be spending their chunks of money.

The corner plot dual aspects led much of the thought about design

Opinder also likes the aesthetic of a steep roof pitch on a house, and to make a dramatic feature of the front he designed two gables, with the feature continuing around to the side.

Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) was chosen as the construction method for a variety of reasons: it has good energy efficiency, is very airtight, performs well acoustically, and was particularly well suited for constructing the basement.

Following discussions with Nudura, their ICF supplier, Opinder decided to push the design and show the materials at their best. The resulting design has a balcony that projects over the car parking area, hanging off a cantilevered wall that flies out at the first floor level. There are also frameless windows that turn the corner and are taken up to the underside of the gables.

The ‘wow factor’ was an important consideration

Often the space required for a plant room is underestimated, so the Build It house is a good example of showing how much area can be needed. Their plant room is in the basement to house the mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) system, along with the inverter for the solar panels, battery storage, water softener, control hub for the Niko smart home system, and the amplifiers for the whole house sound system.

Calum wants visitors to have the ‘wow factor’ when they walk in, so Opinder has designed a triple-height entrance hall. There you are greeted by a sculptural ash staircase that winds its way up. The eye is also drawn through towards the back of the building and the garden.

A mixture of door types have been used, with pocket doors that slide into the walls, and a glass screen that gives the flexibility of sub-dividing the open space if needed.

There is further architectural interest on the ground floor, with a curved wall that comes around from the cloakroom and into the kitchen, next to the floor to ceiling windows that give an amazingly light and spacious feel.

The ground floor is open plan with lots of hard surfaces, but the oblique angles stop it from being acoustically noisy.

The timber posi-joists, which are great for running services through, can be prone to noise transfer, so they have used acoustic boards, acoustic insulation and a screeded floor on top.

On the first floor there is a glass balustrade which further enhances the connection with the outdoor space.

Each bedroom is individual because of the different aspects and how they sit within the roof forms.

It has been a typical self build journey in many ways

The project hasn’t been without its challenges along the way.

Calum explains that many of the difficulties have been in the project management of coordinating suppliers and contractors to work together.

Issues were with communication, building to the same tolerances, and even incorrect measurements on site meaning that windows and doors didn’t end up exactly where they should have been.

His tip for self builders is to keep on top of checking things like that because you could be storing up problems for a later date if things aren’t nipped in the bud as soon as possible.

“The problems are about people and communication and scheduling things and dealing with the weather and all of those little curve balls that come your way and how you can actually try and continually pull it back to keeping it true to the vision of what you’re trying to create and as originally in the plans. Because it can be quite easy to deviate off slightly and end up with a house that doesn’t quite look and doesn’t quite perform in the way that you hoped it would.”

The house shows what can be achieved on a tight plot

With Calum working on the house from a Project Director level, it has been Editor Chris Bates who has been project managing the self build, going through the hard learning process and gaining valuable lessons and insights from it.

Regular readers of Build It have been following the journey in the magazine and have been visiting to see the finished building. And for other members of the public with no prior experience of it, there are infographics around the house that help them understand the journey and the choices that were made around materials and suppliers.

Going forward, the house will be paramount to the magazine’s editorial, as they can relate back to the experiences and decisions they made, or what they might have done differently in another scenario.

Although the house went over budget and needed their contingency fund, (primarily due to weather delays), Opinder is keen for the house to show what is achievable on a fairly tight plot. He says it shows that it can be attainable for everybody and offers a genuine alternative to buying a typical “Noddy-box” house.

More Graven Hill podcasts

We’ve been following the Graven Hill scheme with interest for some time, so if you would like to know more about the background of the project and what it’s like to build there, then check out some of our previous podcasts:
- Background to the scheme, with former MD Philip Singleton
- Information about buying land at Graven Hill, with MD Karen Curtin
- How to know if you’re properly prepared for a self build, with Dean Scott
- What it’s like to build at Graven Hill, with Dean Scott
Find out more

Visit the website of Build It magazine

Follow Build It on Twitter

Find out more about lapd Architects

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April 1, 2020
HPH265 : Preserving the beauty of a building while renovating to EnerPHit standard – with Jonathan Kearns

Jonathan Kearns of Kearns Mancini Architects, describes how he tackled a high performance retrofit of a century-old building.

Interview with Jonathan Kearns

Originally from Dublin and a keen environmentalist, Jonathan emigrated to Toronto in 1975. He became an architect and by 2008 was looking to incorporate his interest in sustainability into his designs. This led him to take the Passivhaus training, with his first project using this methodology being the Reach Guesthouse renovation.

Reach Guesthouse

Reach Guesthouse before renovation

Reach Guesthouse was an experimental exercise

Located two hours east of Toronto in Prince Edward County, Jonathan took on a late 1800s post and beam farmhouse. At around 1700 square feet it had a ground floor with smaller upper floor.

“And so, that project became my learning tool and sort of an experimental exercise in how to renovate an older building and draw all the best qualities out of it while at the same time enabling it to be superbly energy efficient.”

Renovations tend to be more tricky than new builds

Jonathan explains that the Passivhaus training that was developed for new buildings hadn’t entirely prepared him for the task. It took a period of stripping away and demolishing the worst parts of the house to establish whether it would even be worth renovating, but the more raw structure that they uncovered, the more they realised that they could end up with something very interesting and unique.

A friend of Jonathan’s was an artist who in his free periods would also do some construction work. He moved to the site to carry out the selective demolition, using his artistic eye and considered approach to decide what would be worth keeping. This approach did mean the time schedule became stretched, but Jonathan considers it to have been time well spent.

The house was enveloped in Structurally Insulated Panel cladding

Jonathan worked with a local contractor specialising in Passivhaus home projects, who built modular pre-fabricated components in his shop in the local town.

Using 12 inches of SIPs cladding as an insulated jacket to the building, they were able to create a house form very similar to the original. Jonathan describes it as being somewhat surreal to cross from the entirely white exterior through to the contrasting original woodwork inside.

Later additions to the original farmhouse had been poorly built, so they chose to demolish them but use the same foundation to construct a kitchen / dining space on the back of the house.

“So, again, even within the house, you have a very nice contrast of the intimate, richly wooded finishes of the original house, and then you go through into the kitchen dining room and it’s a one-and-a-half storey high open cathedral ceilinged space that is painted white on the inside and is white on the outside and has larger windows that overlook the garden.”

Excluding the basement from the Passivhaus envelope was a painstaking process

With the basement being shallow and built of local stone, Jonathan says there wasn’t much opportunity to incorporate it into the house, so lots of insulation had to be added to the underside of the floor to achieve an air seal.

As they wanted to keep the beautiful, original wooden floorboards, they lifted each one from the ground floor, recorded where they had come from, and preserved and set them aside until later. A layer of Oriented Strand Board (OSB) was laid, taped and sealed, with all the edges being sealed to the outside of the exterior cladding of the original house, so that when the house was wrapped with an air vapour barrier it could be taped to the edge of the floor. The original floorboards were then re-laid.

A particular challenge was the four posts of the house. To complete the air barrier they had to tape three or four inches vertically up each post and down to the floor membrane.

The next project will be a Passivhaus new build

“It makes me want to do new build more than renovation because with renovation, it’s a journey and you don’t know the route. You know what your objective is but you’re starting with something where you can’t see all of the challenges. So, it’s not until you get in and you strip away and you discover all the nuances, that only then can you really make the right decision, make the right design choice.
So, the renovation project really needs you as the architect and designer to be very hands-on and very engaged in the process all the way through. Whereas with a new build, you can really design, think out, calculate and detail every aspect of your new build before you start construction.”

Following Jonathan’s renovation experience, he is now constructing a new Passivhaus guesthouse, called Endymion Guesthouse, which is also in Prince Edward County. Being a completely new build he has been able to site it facing south the way he wanted, and has chosen an ICF construction which could be built by a builder without much Passivhaus experience.

His approach to sustainability has changed

Jonathan says he has always liked the landscape and ecological approach to architecture. He went through periods of being very immersed in looking at photovoltaic panels, wind turbines and the use of geothermal for heating and cooling, but when he studied the Passivhaus methodology he realised they were all secondary to building the primary architectural enclosure to an extremely high performance level.

At the Reach Guesthouse, they have very low energy consumption in summer and winter months for heating and cooling, and the shoulder seasons quite often rely only on keeping the energy inside the building that has been generated by people and appliances.

Something Jonathan enjoys about Passivhaus is he feels it allows him the freedom to work with any material that is appropriate to the design, programme, location and landscape, whilst applying the science as stringently as possible.

Find out more

Visit the website of Kearns Mancini Architects

Follow Kearns Mancini Architects on Twitter

Read Lloyd Alter’s Treehugger article about the Reach Guesthouse

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Jonathan Kearns

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October 6, 2019
HPH233 : How to choose a construction system for a house build – with Mike Hardwick
Self build consultant, Mike Hardwick, explains the pros and cons of different construction systems.

Interview with Mike Hardwick

Mike hasn’t followed a typical path into the industry. He actually worked in the RAF for 26 years, and with all the different postings came many different house moves for him and his family. Deciding to settle in one place they selected a location (based in the middle of where possible future postings could potentially be), bought a plot of land and built their own home.

Mike often found himself propping up the bar in the Officers’ Mess answering questions about how to build your own home. When he came out of the Services in 2005, he realised that what he would really like to do was get more people interested in building their own homes, and at that point decided to make a business from it.

The first series of Grand Designs – copyright Channel 4

Mike’s house build coincided with the first series of Grand Designs

They bought the land for their self build in 1999, got planning permission in 2000 and in 2002 were able to move in. Doing the build in parallel with the first episodes of Grand Designs often left them able to empathise with the self-builders, pick up a few tips or wonder why they were doing things a certain way.

Mike credits Grand Designs for redefining the scope of self build, making people realise that it doesn’t have to just be for the very wealthy. Although he does concede that the TV programme “Sensible Couple with Reasonable Budget Build Modest House On-time and On-budget with a Competent Builder” is never going to get commissioned!

A build system is the structural element of the house

That is, what it is built from and held up by. “And the confusing bit with a build system is that just because what’s on the outside of a house looks like maybe a brick, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a house made out of bricks structurally.” Most, but not all, houses in the UK are built with a twin-leaf construction, where the inner leaf does the supporting work and the outer leaf makes it look pretty, with timber, brick, tiles etc.

As well as holding up the structure of the house and being the main material used in the construction, it is what the services run through and are bolted to.

As such, getting the right system for you is going to be an important decision to make, and generally it’s entirely your choice. Because the building system you use doesn’t usually dictate the external appearance, the planners aren’t interested. So as long as Building Control are happy that it will comply with regulations then you are free to choose.

Price comparisons aren’t straight forward

Mike explains that people will always ask him which system is the most cost effective, but drawing a price comparison is actually quite difficult. He does say that there is a fairly narrow band of cost when it comes to the different build systems, and what influences the price most is actually the detailing and the finishes that go on inside.

What really hikes the price is when you trade in the materials for speed of construction, such as with houses that are pre-fabricated and then erected on site in a matter of days.

Masonry construction

Mortgage companies for example will typically ask whether the house you’re buying is of masonry construction with a tiled roof. They like it because it has substance to it, it’s a safe thing to invest against, and will be appealing to potential future purchasers.

“It’s the way that we’ve trained our builders, it’s the way we’ve been conditioned to think about how houses work, and it’s what we fall back to. So, they’re easier to insure, they’re easier to mortgage against and they’re easier to sell. Which is why people still do it.”

If you’re working to a modest budget, then using brick and block is generally at the lower end of the cost spectrum, so is likely to be a baseline for constructing your own home. They are quick and easy to build, relatively cheap to buy, and are easy to handle and cut up. They tick the boxes for mortgage companies, insurers and builders.

Other positives are the strength they provide, that you can put beam and block floors in. The thermal mass provides a stable temperature throughout the house, and the masonry affords you flexibility of design. You can build just about anything you want in masonry, and combined with steels can give you large, open spans.

Traditional breeze blocks were made out of cement covered cinder. Modern blocks are lightweight and made from pulverised fuel ash, so the detritus from a coal-fired power station mixed with resin and turned into a block. The aerated middle traps air and provides insulation, and also makes them lighter. In the UK there is currently a shortage as there aren’t many coal-fired power stations remaining, so the raw materials have to be imported.

Timber frame

Timber frame basically replaces that breeze block element with a structural framework of timber. It is associated with being environmentally friendly, high quality, accurate off-site manufacture. It is efficient, effective and with the speed of construction it makes for an attractive proposition.

Whereas masonry has high embodied carbon in the manufacture, timber frame is carbon neutral in that you plant a tree, chop it down and plant another tree. Timber is also a flexible material in that you can build the walls, ceilings, floors, windows, doors, stairs etc from it.

Mike is keen to point out to people who worry that building a timber frame system might suffer from problems such as termites or rot, that probably around 65% of what we would call a masonry house is actually made from timber anyway, being the roof trusses, stairs, skirtings and so on.

Mike concedes that, if pressed, he would say timber frame is probably the cheapest way of building the structure of the house. But that would only be if you were doing the most economical and basic timber frame with no frills, and without doing anything to attenuate the acoustics. Most self-builders would want to go above and beyond building regulations and put in good sound-deadening insulation to minimise noise transmitting through the house. When taking into account the extra money on the sound-proofing, you are probably then looking at a more expensive path than masonry.

“Now, if you want the environmental stuff but you don’t want a lot of noise transmission, timber frame with noise attenuation is a good thing but it’s going to cost you more than it will for a masonry house straight out of the box. This is where you need to start doing your homework and making your calculations about what you actually want, how you’re going to live your life, and what you’re trying to get from the home that you’re building.”

The thing to remember with timber frame is that it will last well as long as the moisture content in the structure is kept to a minimum, and allowed to escape so that it doesn’t build up. On the inside of the house behind the plasterboard there will be a non-breathable, vapour control layer. This stops any moisture occurring inside the property from getting into the structure. On the external wall, underneath the render or brickwork, is a breathable membrane, allowing any moisture that does get inside to find a way out.

Insulated Concrete Formwork (ICF)

These are a type of fire retardant polystyrene foam block. They fit together to create a solid outer wall and a solid inner wall, with the gap in the middle being filled with poured concrete. When the concrete sets and cures, you end up with a waterproof, insulated, monolithic wall which is highly insulated, highly airtight and with the strength and density of a masonry wall. This makes it popular for people building to the Passivhaus standard.

It also benefits from being very quick to construct, you don’t need to be too skilled to put it together, and being waterproof is a good choice for flood-prone areas.

Some people aren’t keen on this method because of the perceived embodied carbon being quite high. In reality, Mike says, they are mostly made of air with very little actual structure to them. There are other alternatives, such as Durisol blocks which are much the same in principle but use chopped up timber instead of the polystyrene foam as the insulant.

Although there is a lot of concrete used, Mike suggests thinking about the amount of energy that the structure saves straight away with its high levels of airtightness and thermal performance.

It is worth thinking about future use, as putting in more doors or windows for example at a later date is going to be very difficult. Also perhaps a marine ply or a Thermacell type board is advisable for indoors when there might be considerable weight such as cupboards or TVs to be hung from them.

Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPs)

These are manufactured off-site and built of two oriented strand board (OSB) sheets that are filled with expanded urethane insulation foam. The panels can be cut, shaped and fixed to other panels to make a complete housing structure. They tend to be accurate, airtight, watertight and put up on site very quickly.

If you were thinking of using this building method, you would take your designs to a SIPs company whose CAD systems would create the plans to feed into the machines that produce the panels to millimetre perfection. These panels work with the other panels around them, and can even have steelwork in there for covering large spans, to give the structural integrity to the house.

Mike explains how the success of a masonry constructed home is very dependent on the quality and skill of the bricklayer. With ICF it’s harder to go wrong, as the panels are designed to fit together at 90 degrees, meaning the walls are going to be straight and it will be easier for fitting out afterwards.

One drawback is that you can’t later decide to move things about or add doors or windows because the structural integrity will be compromised.

“The advice I would give to anyone contemplating building in SIPs is to spend a really long time thinking about what you want and what’s going to go into your house, and the design of your house, and then say, ‘that’s it, no more changes. We’re happy with this. Go and provide this house.’ Because once it goes into the computer and they pull the handle, then that’s what you’re going to get. If you suddenly say, ‘about that wall there, can we have another one here or another window here? Can we have that door moved to the left?’ that’s going to be expensive, it’s time consuming, you’ve got to start again and recalculate the whole thing in the worst cases.”

In terms of cost, Mike says ICF and SIPs used to have roughly a 10% premium on them because there were new factories to be paid for, but as they are becoming more common-place the prices are more competitive. Some manufacturers are even assuring that they can produce a house for about the same cost as brick and block.

Straw bale

Previously seen as something you wouldn’t consider for mainstream building, nowadays the increased focus on energy efficiency, natural materials and environmentally conscious building has given straw a greater appeal. Mike explains that structural straw bales, as opposed to ones you would buy direct from a farmer, are processed and compacted to form dense blocks.

“When you encapsulate this within a lime water and plaster that you would normally be using with this build, you’ve got something which has got no oxygen. So, it doesn’t catch fire. It doesn’t. It’s just a really good carbon neutral method, environmentally friendly way of getting all that insulated wall which looks really good as well.”

Straw bales do mean that you end up with thick walls, but for some people that is a positive feature. The deep window and door reveals combined with the lime plaster make it look and feel like a solid house with a natural, rustic feel.

Mike concedes that some mainstream lenders and insurance companies might not be keen to deal with these, but others like the Ecology Building Society see the benefits and will lend against them.

Prefabricated system builds

Most of these factories tend to be in continental Europe where the prefabricated kit is made and then brought to your plot to be assembled. This method probably won’t suit those on a smaller budget but for projects on a grander scale, or at least a grander budget, they will be rewarded with superb, quality finishes.

“And for those people who want to be hands-off with the self-build rather than actually getting involved and really worrying about how the bricks go and how the timber frame is constructed, they can sit back and basically say, ‘here’s the house I want. Build me one of those. Here’s where I want it.’ And somebody else goes and does it for you. You pay for the privilege of doing that, but the stress levels are going to be a lot lower than somebody who’s actually project managing their own build all the way through.”

Again, this is a system where decisions need to be made up front as any changes later are going to be extremely costly.

Steel frame

A steel frame self build house wouldn’t be commonplace in the UK. They tend to be more popular in warmer climates. If you have a steel structured house and are trying to stop cold-bridging then you’re starting from a losing position.

However, recent changes in planning regulations, where permitted development allows people to take farm buildings and convert them into residential dwellings with less of the hassle, has made extensions and renovations of steel-framed farm buildings more common.

Thin joint

The masonry industry has recognised some of the problems of building with blocks (weather dependent, speed of construction, reliant on quality of the builder) and come up with a variation on the masonry theme called Thin Join. They use over-size versions of the cinder blocks and instead of using a 10mm sand and cement mortar base, they are held together with a type of glue adhesive.

“But by taking out things like the mortar bed, you’re taking out two things. One is a passage for air to get through, and when air can get through, noise can get through. So, by taking that mortar bed out, you’re putting better airtightness into it, putting more insulation into the wall and you’re taking away some of the need for skilled construction to put it together”.

It’s also a cleaner system, using a bucket of adhesive instead of having piles of sand and cement spreading around the site.

Which system to use depends on what is right for your circumstances

“So, if low cost is your priority then you need to be looking at the traditional masonry or the timber frame setup. If you’ve got family and you want a bit of peace and quiet, you want some separation of noise, acoustic attenuation, then the masonry end is probably the way you want to be looking at.

If you want energy efficient, you’re environmentally aware, then you want high efficiency and low running costs. Then timber frame is probably where I’d be looking at. That’s at the lower end of the spectrum on there.

And as you go up the performance scale, that’s when I’d start looking at the ICFs and the SIPs panels. They might cost you a little bit more to build but again, there’s a trade-off there against the cost of the materials and you need less labour to put it all together.

At the very top end, if you really are a hands-off builder and you want the sort of quality which just comes with that continental standard, then these system builds that we spoke about, hand over the money and let these guys come and build it. You’ll have a house which will be good enough to feature in the magazines. But you will pay for that privilege.”

Additional resources

Build It Magazine

NaCSBA

National Self Build & Renovation Centre

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Mike Hardwick.

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December 14, 2018
HPH218 : Stopping and later restarting a self build – with Alex Baines
Alex Baines explains the impact a mid-construction delay has had on him, his family, and his Long Barrow Passivhaus project.

Interview with Alex Baines

We have been following Alex’s Long Barrow Passivhaus project in The Hub and on the podcast since it went through the planning stages. When we last caught up with Alex his employment status had recently changed and he was unable to secure a mortgage to complete the build. It’s been two and a half years since then and work has finally resumed and progress is being made.

The ICF withstood the exposed conditions well

Alex has used insulated concrete form to create the main structure of the building. Whether this was the right choice he will reserve judgment on until they have completed the airtightness test. It has however been excellent in terms of the construction job it has done and how well it has stood up to the elements with no degradation at all in the two years that the site has effectively been closed. Had it been constructed from timber Alex would have been concerned about leaving it open and exposed for that length of time.

No stage was left incomplete

A complication with the excavations and additional costs that caused meant that they didn’t have the funds available to complete the airtight and watertight stage. So instead they stopped before putting the windows in and render on, knowing that leaving either of those only partially complete would leave the internal timber window frame at risk of water damage.

Because they had the money to complete various sections, they didn’t leave anything halfway through and ensured they they stuck to their finite stop points. They went through a checklist with the builder to sign-off on the items to show which parts of the contract were or weren’t complete.

The JCT contract they had in place covered completion, quality and cost, and very little about timing as Alex knew that was the one thing he was prepared to compromise on if necessary. The builders were contracted to finish the job, so the pause happened between specific contract items, with the next item only being started when they were invited back on site.

Costs still accrue, even while the project is on hold

One extra cost they incurred was the scaffolding. It stayed on site for four months, with Alex expecting work to have resumed in that time, so when it didn’t he had to pay for that additional time, plus the extra costs of setting it all up again when they restarted.

In the meantime, Alex has still had the additional costs of paying for rent, site insurance and third party liability insurance.

Alex has had financial assistance from his parents to get the project moving again, who have taken out mortgages on their property to fund it through to completion, with Alex taking out a mortgage at a certain stage to pay them back. This has meant that there have been emotional strains for the wider family being stakeholders, as well as for Alex, his wife and children.

Focus has been diverted during the delay

During the period of cessation, Alex has been focused on professional life, family life and getting the money to do the build. He has held back from pursuing contracts with utility companies etc, as these often only have 90 days on them.

The biggest delay has been caused by the construction company closing

Getting the project restarted and back on site has been a painful and lengthy process. In July 2016, six or seven months after they had put the project on hold, they had finance in place and invited the contractors to return. After several months of not being able to get answers about when they would re-start, they were contacted to say the company was being closed down by their parent company. They were trying to get out of the contract but Alex knew the parent company would still have to honour and complete the contract, even if the team that were doing the building and the company responsible for it were no longer operating.

It has taken until the summer of 2017 to finally get work restarted. Fortunately they were able to re-hire the original site manager, but the company that closed didn’t leave any of its data with the parent company, so the current team are having difficulties finding their way without the original details.

When the contractors finally returned to site they reviewed the waterproofing of the building. Being below the water table means that’s a detail they need to get right, and they discovered that their original plan wasn’t robust enough. This was discovered when the same method on another site failed over a period of time.

Work has finally resumed

There had been some damage during the previous winter, where the pumps and electricity on site had stopped, and had ripped off part of the external waterproofing. Progress has been incredibly slow in getting that remedied and Alex had been keen to get the render and waterproofing details confirmed so he could order the windows. The contractors have struggled to find the right team to render the building but with an 8-12 week lead time on the windows he decided to order them anyway.

As of May 2018 there has been a recent flurry of activity with the base-coat rendering finished and the windows being installed.

Current finance should be enough to make the building habitable

First on Alex’s long list of tasks is to get the ventilation system organised. He is still waiting on the final waterproofing detail before he can get the landscape contractors to do the backfill. Following that will be ordering the utilities, which come into the house at above head height on the below ground floor.

Alex is hoping that his finance will cover, at a minimum, a certain amount of first fix upstairs, get a bathroom in place, ventilation system installed and an operating kitchen, to make it a usable building.

It has been an emotional roller coaster of a journey!

Spirits are currently high with the previous week of activity making tangible differences to the aesthetics and fabric of the house.

“The process has obviously been very, very challenging. So, we are now looking at and trying to mentally break the process being awful and not associate that with I hate the whole thing, and I hate the building.”

While the last couple of years have been challenging and caused a bit of love loss for the building, Alex remains thankful that they still love the location. He is hopeful that once the building is finished they will be able to leave the negative thoughts behind as being part of the methodology and the process.

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Alex Baines.

Find out more

Follow Alex Baines on Twitter

Listen to our previous podcasts with Alex – “How a public consultation helped a rural self build” and “Constructing Long Barrow Passivhaus”.

Please connect with me
- Subscribe, rate and review the podcast in iTunes
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June 6, 2018
HPH150 : Where is the balance between renewables and a fabric first approach? – with Alex Baines
Despite his background in renewables, Alex Baines explains why he embraced a fabric first approach on his self build project.

Interview with Alex Baines

We’ve been following the progress of Alex Baines’ Long Barrow Passivhaus self build in episodes 74 and 100. This time we’ve brought him back to the podcast to draw on his background working in renewable energy. He first became interested in the idea back in 2008 and went on to do a Masters in Renewable Energy at the Centre for Alternative Technology, before getting a job advising a mechanical and engineering company about renewables installations.

Renewables were heavily incentivised to encourage meeting carbon emissions reduction targets

Until fairly recently it seemed to many that renewables were being hailed as the solution, and the industry was heavily incentivised with feed-in tariffs and the Renewable Heat Incentive to encourage take-up. The successful promotion of the industry meant there was, and still remains, a perception that by using renewables you create a ‘green’ or ‘eco’ house.

It wasn’t long before Alex came to the conclusion that while renewables were a great part of the solution, they should only be the final part of the solution: “because technically you can get to zero carbon by building a pretty bad building and whacking in a massive amount of renewables.”

Renewables should be “the final part to get you to the bit that you can’t avoid”

For Alex it became important to look at fabric first in the initial instance, and then consider renewables for the parts that can’t be avoided, such as electricity. Whereas with Passivhaus you can avoid the need for the majority of heating, you can’t avoid the need for electricity around the house, which is where renewables can still play their part.

Reducing the energy demand of a building means fewer renewables are needed

It was quickly apparent to Alex that Passivhaus was where his focus needed to go, because he cared about reducing the energy demand in the first instance.

“So you look at a building, the building is the demand and the renewables are something that meets that demand. So if you can reduce the demand then you reduce the size of your generator.”

Alex points out that renewables will eventually fail, and at that point the building will no longer for example be zero carbon, or running at an improved efficiency.

A change in public perception may need to be driven by government

Alex explains that if/when the Building Regulations become more stringent, then people’s understanding may change too, as currently there is a general lack of knowledge and promotion around it. He uses the example of Brussels – where Passivhaus standard has been adopted – which has resulted in manufacturers coming to the city because that’s where the demand is (rather than sourcing products from overseas).

Passivhaus is really a ‘human comfort’ standard

According to Alex, the current Building Regulations don’t focus on a holistic approach of what is best for the occupants. Instead they are made of separate parts looking at individual elements, for example, ventilation requirements having no link to acoustic requirements, and having no link to energy demands.

“I would much rather we just said right, let’s go for a human element design and actually funnily enough, you focus on the human element you end up with Passivhaus because that’s where Passivhaus came from.”

Long Barrow Passivhaus progress – know when you can take a pause!

Alex had opted not to take a mortgage for his self build until they got to the airtight / watertight shell stage, so when his employment situation changed nearly a year ago, they decided to pause the project. Because they are using Insulated Concrete Formwork (ICF) as a construction method they were able to pause before getting the windows in and the waterproofing on. With other building methodologies it wouldn’t be possible to pause until they are airtight and watertight, but Alex suggests you work out at what stages you would be able to take a break if circumstances unexpectedly arose that might make it necessary.

Work is due to recommence shortly with the insulation waterproofing going on the roof, before putting the windows in and waterproofing the rest of the building. Once the services have been connected up Alex can start on the internal layout. The internal space has been designed to be flexible, which has the benefit that Alex can work on one part while still being able to live in the other spaces. If the budget allows at the end, he will be installing photovoltaics for generating electricity and solar thermal panels to provide the hot water.

Find out more

Follow Alex Baines on Twitter

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Alex Baines.

The Hub update

We’re just getting ready for our next progress call, where we bring people together within the community and try and resolve any issues. It’s always interesting to see the hurdles that people are facing at the various stages of their projects.

Our new module is about VAT refunds, explaining how the process works and what you can and can’t claim for.

The new module also ties in with the latest video project we’re following – Buckinghamshire Passivhaus – which started out as a renovation project. After doing all their research they realised it just didn’t make sense – either financially or in terms of risk and complexity. Combined with various other reasons they decided to opt for a new build instead. If you’re a Hub member you can check out the video now, and we have the next instalment coming very soon.

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October 12, 2016
HPH120 : What is a self build mortgage? – with Thomas Honour of BuildStore
Thomas Honour, mortgage adviser at BuildStore, explains the self build mortgage process.

Interview with Thomas Honour

In this interview we’ve returned to the National Self Build and Renovation Centre (NSBRC), this time to chat with Thomas Honour who works as an adviser with BuildStore mortgage services. BuildStore specialise in finance for projects, so self builds, custom builds, renovations etc. They have had a presence at the NSBRC since it opened, with a permanent base there for mortgage advisers who also contribute to the seminars on finance.

Consult a mortgage adviser at an early stage

This will help you to ascertain your borrowing capacity and determine whether your budget for the plot and build is is likely to be realistic.

Salary is the single most important factor in determining available finance, but other considerations will include things like ongoing credit commitments, childcare costs and any other significant outgoings.

Each lender is very different but typically they will apply an income multiplier of between 4 and 4.25 times the joint household income, with some treating bonus and overtime payments differently.

There are two different types of self build mortgage product

The main difference between a self build mortgage and a conventional mortgage is the way in which the funds are released. With a conventional mortgage you receive the funds in a lump sum, which together with your deposit, you use to purchase the property.

With self build mortgages the money is released typically in four or five stages, over two phases. The first phase is releasing money to purchase the plot and the second phase releases money to finance the build.

The traditional self build product provides money in arrears of the stage being completed. This works well for people that have larger deposits or who own the land, as they are putting in their own money upfront with the lender giving the money in arrears on completion.

Construction types such as insulated concrete formwork (ICF), structurally insulated panels (SIPs) and timber frame however often require a much larger payment to the manufacturer early in the project. BuildStore have designed their “Accelerator” product to mitigate these cash flow difficulties by giving the money in advance of each stage.

Your mortgage broker has a duty of care to ensure your mortgage is affordable to you

The mortgage broker and lender will work together to ensure that your build costs are reasonable and that they’re going to be plausible for the type of project that you are doing. This aims to prevent the need for anyone to return mid-project requesting more funds, with no guarantee they will be provided, and will likely cause delays.

On rare occasions people do return requesting additional funds. An additional loan known as a “further advance” or “additional advance” can be applied for to make sure that the build can be completed, subject to underwriting from the lender.

It’s important that budgets are broken down in detail. Sometimes people may not have considered contingencies and additional expenses such as architect fees, stamp duty on land, site insurance and structural warranties. A mortgage broker would rather decline an application upfront than put them in a position where they have a project they can’t complete because they don’t have enough money.

It is worth bearing in mind that most lenders will have some sort of caveat that the build must be completed within two years.

Since the mortgage market review by the regulator a couple of years ago there is a greater burden on the lender to ensure they are lending responsibly. While Thomas believes that this is right and should be the case, some of their affordability criteria does limit the amount that people can borrow which means they may need to put more down as a deposit.

There are costs to setting up a self build mortgage

This will vary from lender to lender but as with standard mortgages there will be costs to get it set up. These may include:
- An arrangement fee – most lenders will charge this as standard on any type of mortgage
- Valuation fee – this will value the plot based on its value at the time and what you’re paying for it. They will also give an end value based on what you’re planning to build and what they think it will be worth when completed. There is also a reinstatement value for site insurance purposes.
- Additional fees – some lenders may charge booking fees which are all quite similar but may be named differently.
The job of your broker is to ensure you’re aware of all the fees upfront to know what they are, what they cover, what they’re costing you and when they’re due.

A bridging facility may be suitable for people that have assets but a low income

Thomas uses the example of someone with a house worth £500,000 but a pension income of £10,000, but wanting to borrow more than a typical mortgage would allow them on that income.

Potentially there can be bridging finance secured against the existing home which would enable them to build their house. Money from the sale of their old home can then pay off the bridging facility.

Not all lenders will lend on all construction types

Non-standard constructions can be funded, however “non-standard” means different things to different lenders, so your mortgage broker will find a lender that is suitable for your project. Even timber frame, steel frame, SIPs and ICF constructions are considered non-standard by some lenders.

The reason why some lenders won’t lend on less traditional buildings is largely down to re-saleability. The lender is always thinking about if they had to take possession of the property how easy it would be to sell. For properties that might be an acquired taste they will be worried they may not get their money back.

The larger the deposit, the more favourable the interest rates

Typically the minimum deposit required will be around 10% of the overall project costs. The project cost is the combined land and build costs.

For someone that already owns the land outright, the value of the plot can be used as the deposit contribution, i.e. owning a plot with a value of £50,000 will provide £50,000 towards the deposit.

A larger deposit will give more favourable interest rates and may make more lenders available to you.

Find out more

Visit the BuildStore website

Follow BuildStore on Twitter

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Thomas Honour.

The Hub update

We’d like to tell you a little bit about The Hub – what it is and why we’re doing it.

Support: A self build project can be a long journey so the community side of The Hub is a place to learn from others and be inspired by them.

Information: We’re already providing lots of information with our podcasts and videos on YouTube, but this is going a step further by trying to refine and organise it, making a step by step and easy to understand guide of what’s involved in a self build.

Videos: There’s huge potential for learning by video and here at Regen Media it’s what we specialise in.

As content creators and communicators, we can do much more, not only in The Hub, but also by adding free content and perhaps help other people to achieve more and spread their messages further. If we can save you time and money by making The Hub work, then hopefully you’re paying for a resource that you’re happy with and which is giving us more funds that we can use to create in other areas.

Please connect with me
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March 16, 2016
HPH100 : Constructing Long Barrow Passivhaus – with Alex Baines
We catch up with Alex Baines, a Passivhaus consultant who you may remember from episode 74. We spoke to him then about how gaining support for his semi earth-sheltered rural self-build from his local community helped him achieve the necessary planning permissions. Almost a year on we spoke with him again to see what progress he has made on the build so far.

Long Barrow Proposed Elevations

Excavation Work Took Almost a Month

Being semi earth-sheltered to comply with planning restrictions, a very large hole was always going to be needed! Over the winter it took 4 people, a 20 tonne excavator, an articulated truck and a roller to dig down 5 metres. They actually dug out around twice the volume they needed to prevent the sides from collapsing. Their ethos is to try not to throw away anything on site so everything they excavated will be utilised, whether that be earth for backfill or turning the rock into fixtures and fittings for the house.

Digging Below the Water Table Has Meant Extra Precautions Were Taken

Digging up to 3 metres beyond the ground water level, Alex had been expecting the hole to fill up constantly but that hasn’t been the case. Instead it’s had a dribble of water occasionally going into it in two corners, although a fair amount is trapped in after rain. To get them through the construction phase they bought a £100 pump to remove water from the hole, though it hardly needed to be used during the summer months.

There is a double layer waterproof DPC membrane going the whole way around the ground perimeter. On top of that they’re also using waterproof concrete under ground.

The Stages So Far:
- A layer of hardcore to get a level base
- Poured a very thin blinding layer of cement-concrete
- DPC
- Waterproofing line laid
- Insulation
- Base poured
- Steels in and east, west and north walls built out of ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms) and filled with concrete, followed by the south side
- Roof on
The Building is Designed to Make the Living Spaces Easily Adaptable

While there is a lot of concrete going into the building, Alex feels justified because he is creating a home that should last for centuries and be flexible to the changing needs of its occupants. The steel and concrete support the structure and there are no internal load bearing walls. The result is that internal dividing walls can easily be added or removed to reconfigure the space according to the needs of the owners and styles of the time. The other benefit of the concrete is its absorbency of heat, which they hope to retain throughout the winter. Researchers from the University of Loughborough are installing monitoring equipment to see what the effect of an ICF system is in terms of the latent heat in the building.

Alex Wouldn’t Ever Recommend a Client Use as Much Glazing as he is on the South Elevation!

They are not having glazing on the east and west sides, and very little on the north. They are using the glazing on the south to try and take in heat and light to be retained in the concrete core.

“From a passive nature I’d much rather design the windows to be the right size that you don’t actually need any external blinds or any improvement to the actual glazing in terms of improving its g-value for solar glare control. But here we do have the views, we do have the space and we do have the height. And architecturally and from being on the site it didn’t make sense to restrict the window size.”

With slight changes to increase the height of the windows they are still working on calculations for how best to install the external shading.

There will however be areas at the back and downstairs of the building that will not get much light, however these have been designed to be the rooms which would need it least and Alex is not concerned that this will be a problem.

Work is Likely to be Delayed Until Further Finances are in Place

Generally the finances have been on track, apart from early additional costs at the excavation stage. Extra time was spent on the equipment hire to try and break through the rock, and they were advised to reinforce the concrete to avoid the effects of heave in the ground.

Alex left his work 3 months ago and the savings that they hoped would see them through to the windows in / watertight stage are unlikely to stretch that far. They have the details and spec sorted for most of the remainder of the house so once Alex is back in work the mortgage should be agreed and they can move to progress works quickly.

Borrowing money from family is not an option that Alex would consider. He believes it could be detrimental to relationships and he wouldn’t feel comfortable with the situation.

While the Design has Caused Additional Costs, They Would Not Have Got Planning Permission to Build a Standard House

Alex bought the land from his mother. As it is in a rural area they were bound by very strict regulations and had to work hard to achieve planning consent. Building a standard house would never have been an option that would have been approved. The result of planning approval is that the land has now increased in value from £16,ooo to around £300,000. Alex describes a situation where they could have built a standard house for a lot less money in a village setting, however the majority of their funds would then have been spent on the land purchase, leaving very little for the build.

Personally and Professionally the Build Has Been Massively Rewarding

Professionally Alex has learned a huge amount from being on site every day and seeing things that as a consultant you just don’t get to see. He has broadened his knowledge by speaking to experts on site and working through problems – all skills that will be useful for future client builds, not just his own.

On a personal note, Alex enthuses about being around to have the opportunity over the last few months to spend time with his young children and see defining moments in their development that he would otherwise have missed. While the delays on the building are frustrating, Alex wouldn’t have changed the situation, saying “actually there are things that I’ve gained out of it that I actually don’t want to give back.”

Find Out More

Follow Alex Baines on Twitter

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Alex Baines.

Please Connect With Me
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September 22, 2015
HPH074 : How a Public Consultation Helped a Rural Self Build – with Alex Baines
Alex Baines talks through the plans for his semi earth-sheltered home, to be constructed to Passivhaus standard, and explains why involving the local community in the early stages was essential in gaining the relevant permissions.

Interview with Alex Baines

Alex Baines’ new home Long Barrow is going to be a contemporary design but with traditional materials. It has had a lot of input from the surrounding community, which Alex’s wife Louise grew up in and where Alex’s mother currently lives.

This is also a project we will be following at House Planning Help.

Gaining Early Support From Local Residents Was Fundamental to the Scheme

Given the planning restrictions in place at the site, Alex knew that it was going to be important to have the support of the locals. With their intention to settle in the location that was already special to their family, they also didn’t want to cause annoyance or be ostracized for creating something that was going to be upsetting to their neighbours.

The plot is an existing piece of land owned by Alex’s mother

Public Consultations Were Crucial to Achieving Planning Application Approval

By using an iterative process of developing the design based on feedback from the public consultations, they were able to present the planners with a design which had a vast amount of local support. Alex credits this as being the reason they were given planning approval, even though the planning regulations in that particular area were against it.

The Final Design Evolved Through the Consultation Process

By asking people to be more specific about the elements they did and didn’t like, the final design has evolved to be contemporary in form and traditional in the materials used. The quantity and positioning of the glazing was also selected partly in order to minimise the visual impact on the areas that people can see it from.

The final design (south elevation)

A Design Challenge Was Set for the Juniors at the Architect’s Practice

Alex likes being experimental and finding new ways of doing things, so gave the juniors the chance to create some original sketches, based literally only on the location and the number of rooms, almost as a type of work experience for them.

Submitting 3 or 4 Designs at a Time Helped the Consultation Process

By offering multiple options, people were able to point to elements that they didn’t like, and also ones that they did. Towards the end of the process the comments were quite specific, and they were taken on board to produce the final design, which actually ended up being a much cheaper and simpler concept.

The Key Requirements of the Building Were Very Simple

The family had fairly simple requirements of what they needed from the building, and it came down to the functionality of room functions and sizes. Together with the standard rooms they wanted a boot room, for stopping the spread into the rest of the building of muddy dogs and children!

Alex works as a Passivhaus consultant so achieving Passivhaus certification was also something that was fundamental to the project. He was able to explain the ecological principles to the locals who were very supportive of the concept, and worked to fit them into the design.

A cutaway graphic of Long Barrow (underground)

The Building has Been Designed to Last for Generations and be Flexible for the Needs of any Different Occupants

It was important for Alex to create something that has longevity and will last for hundreds of years, which is the reason why he will be using ICF for the floor and shell.

As the external design will not easily accommodate any extensions, he has ensured that the interior has a completely clear span so that any future generations living in the property can adapt the space to their needs.

From a professional point of view, Alex is also interested in researching the properties of the ICF and seeing how it performs over the year.

The Management of the Project is Being Split, According to the Stage

The first part of the build is being managed by the ICF manufacturer. Their contract is to manage and deliver the shell of the building. Once that has been handed over, Alex can continue with the management of the local tradespeople before his wife is able to concentrate on finishing the interior.

The ICF System Keeps Things Simple

They don’t have to worry too much about airtightness with this system and the insulation is effectively already built in, really only leaving the windows to focus on. Although it may be slightly more expensive in ICF because the price of the material, and therefore that part of the build, is known they should be able to stick more closely to their budget.

Getting Enough Natural Light has Been a Concern

With the whole basement level being underground there was a worry that the rear of the building was not going to get enough natural light. Adding space for a lift was in their plans and by changing the designs to widen the stairs they have created a space where the stairs can wrap around a lift, when the time should come that they wish to add one. In the meantime, the extra space has created a lightwell down through the stair core into the back of the house, meaning it hasn’t been as much of a problem as they thought it might be.

Find Out More

Follow Alex Baines on Twitter

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Alex Baines.

See How Green Building Store Retrofitted Stirley Farm

Regen Media has recently completed this video for Green Building Store. It explains all about a low energy retrofit that they have carried out at Stirley Community Farm.

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October 10, 2014
HPH070 : Can You Create an Ecological Building with Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF)? – with Jake White from Ecotecture
Jake White from Ecotecture shares the story of The Curly House, an award-winning project that was built using insulated concrete forms (ICF). He explains what an ICF is, why there are benefits in terms of speed of construction and durability, and why most concrete structures have the potential to be extremely airtight.

Interview with Jake White

Jake White has been a director at Ecotecture for 10 years now.

His interest in low energy buildings and sustainable design was brought about by a desire for improvement, having seen how bad the quality of workmanship and lack of understanding was in the “house bashing” industry.

Concrete’s Bad Reputation is Not Always Deserved

The manufacture of concrete and the resultant CO₂ emissions often give it a bad reputation. Jake feels that given its durable, dense, long-lasting structure, this should not be the case for buildings that are designed to last generations. In producing buildings of this quality he is disconnecting his clients from the effects of fuel hikes and fuel poverty.

Insulated Concrete Formwork Does Not Prevent the Benefits of Thermal Mass

Traditionally the thermal mass of concrete has always been exposed so it will re-emit the heat at night time that has been absorbed during the day. The experience Jake has had of using the insulated concrete formwork is that there is a lag in the heat being re-emitted and thus the benefits from it last longer than the single day.

Essentially Jake expects the temperature of the concrete core to remain stable and consistent with the interior temperature of the space.

A Single Construction Method can be Best for Cost and Energy Efficiency

This was certainly the case for the Curly House, which has a beautiful but very exposed site. Jake suspects that over time if different construction methods had been used, such as a concrete basement and timber frame, there would have been jarring against each other resulting in the airtightness being compromised.

Concrete was deemed to be the ideal material to match the undulating forms of the building with those of the landscape.

The Key to Insulated Concrete Formwork Longevity is a Dry Central Core

A tanking treatment is used on top of the regular foundations to prevent moisture from rising.

There are Key Features to Look for When Selecting an Insulated Concrete Formwork Product
- The adaptability
- The quantity of details they have and have thought through
- The technical support
Reduce Waste by Selecting the Right Thickness of Product for the Job

Even within a single project there are different thicknesses of concrete needed, dependent on the load they are retaining. The products are designed so that you only have to use the thickness that is required for the particular task.

The absolute minimum width required cannot always be achieved, given the limitations and requirements of the pouring process.

There is Flexibility in Terms of How Insulated Concrete Formwork can be Rendered

Due to the excellent levels of airtightness almost any interior or exterior finish can be applied. It is one of the rare products which doesn’t need a wet plaster finish on the interior for the purpose of achieving airtightness.

Great Results can be Achieved if Attention to Airtightness is Given

Jake has seen examples of buildings using insulated concrete formwork where, even without trying, adequate levels of airtightness were achieved. With these results almost being realised by accident it wouldn’t take a great deal more effort to achieve the Passivhaus standard.

Tapes and Membranes are Still Required for Windows and Doors

For buildings that have a full insulated concrete formwork, the only areas vulnerable to air leakage are around the windows and doors so tapes and membranes need would need to be used.

High Quality Design Requires a High Quality Contractor

The Curly House benefited from having a contractor with lots of experience in the systems being used. There had been many challenges but the level of attention to detail and capabilities of the contractor resulted in the high quality design being reflected in the construction.

Find Out More

Visit Ecotecture’s website

Follow Jake White on Twitter

Matthew Cutler-Welsh from Home Style Green chats to NUDURA’s CEO Murray Snider

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Jake White.

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September 10, 2014