Visit to Julian Marsh's house

18 Feb 2012: DNC writes: "Project Nottingham organised a visit to Julian Marsh's house in the Meadows, Nottingham. Although I have seen it from the outside, and heard Julian's lecture and read the article in the Architects Journal, I hadn't seen the interior. 

Panoramic image of the front, with the house closely touching the neighbours at the corner - significantly reducing their heat losses. The front entrance has steps because it was built before the recent Severn-Trent flood prevention bank was built, and there is disabled access at the side door.

Steel Stair and Bottle Wall - the stair is of bent mild steel plate, and the baluster has stretched flexible PVC curtaining of the sort used in warehouses - a reminiscence of the old Meat Factory on the site. The wall is of concrete shelves alternating with recycled Ecover bottles filled with salt water. This has a high thermal capacity (4 times that of concrete) and soaks up winter sun, and releases it later. I am inspired to start collecting bottles myself now! The grilles in the floor allow cool air from the cavity below the ground floor during the hot months of summer.

 Wood-burning stove and flue at the centre of the house in the double height living space. There is also a large roof light above, cascading the room with daylight. Most of the floor is light cream coloured rubber surface, giving high daylight levels internally.

Rainwater purification filters - these provide most of the cold water, except the main CW tap in the kitchen that remains connected to the mains. The house is heated by a Dimplex ground source heat pump, with underfloor heating. There is a MVHR system for ventilation support, and the ground and first floors have concrete ceilings for optimum thermal mass.

 Teak washbasin in the bathroom - and there is teak flooring in the shower. As the ensuite bathroom is furthest from the stair, it has a concealed door which leads to a fire escape.

Entrance courtyard elevation - the garden is full of raised vegetable beds, and under the walkway is a 4000 litre rainwater storage tank. The PV array is facing due south at the perfect angle. There are more PVs behind the beam above the roof. There are fixing points for a wind turbine that never happened because of opposition from the planners.
  There are many other features, such as the composting toilet, the use of a larder instead of a fridge, the sunspace design of the front facade, the use of flitched parallax beams and columns, multi walled polycarbonate panels, parking space for electric car, and more that make this house totally unique and unrepeatable - it is totally born of the spirit of its location and of Julian's ingenuity."

Eco Houses Under Construction - Event 4

The Coach House, a whole house refurbishment using passivhaus principles

On Sunday 2^nd October, a total of 17 visitors took part in a tour around a Victorian coach house which is now an advanced low energy home. Gil Schalom, who provided advice and architectural services on the project, gave a presentation explaining how this was achieved. He introduced the passivhaus modelling techniques used at the design stage, and included photos of the insulation and air tightness products as they were installed. 

For more details about this refurbishment project, click here

To receive an invitation to other events like this, contact Tina on info@wbecohouses.co.uk and ask to join the Eco House Group email list.

The Eco Houses Under Construction project is funded by Climate East Midlands, East Midlands Improvement and Efficiency Partnership and Communities and Local Government with a Growing Climate Friendly Communities grant. It is delivered by the charity Groundwork East Midlands. 

Nottingham's growing group of Superhomes

The number of homes undergoing energy-efficiency retrofits is growing!

The Superhomes network showcases homes that have reduced their carbon emissions by at least 60%, and they have just celebrated the opening of the one hundredth superhome to join the network.

You can view details at http://www.superhomes.org.uk/, and using the "Find a Superhome near you" feature you will see that Nottingham now has 2 Superhomes and one aspiring superhome. (And there are more in the pipeline - including people who have been attending our local Eco House Group events).

This autumn, Superhomes all over the UK are open to the public - for example, Nottingham's newest Superhome, the one in Mapperley Park. This home is open on 2nd October and you can register to visit through the Superhomes website or via info@wbecohouses.co.uk (it is a combined event).

1930’s West Bridgford detached house

1930’s West Bridgford detached house



The house was built in the late 1930’s on a straight road. We have a long west facing back garden.

About us and why we did it
We have always grown vegetables and fruit. When finances allowed we had the underside of roof tiles foam insulated, then got the solar panel and solid fuel fire. We view it as an investment in the future.

Heating and Power
Solar Hot water; a Solid fuel Stove and/or the gas boiler heats the water and central heating. These are handled through a neutraliser.

Insulation
In common with many in WB we have solid walls. The roof void had no insulation and the wind whistled through the tiles distributing dust. We insulated the loft in the traditional fashion and had the underside of the tiles sprayed by in Insulation Firm. There is now no dust.

Other green features
Vegetable garden. Used to have chickens and bees.

Who did you go to for advice and info?
Sheila Hood, Rushcliffe Borough Council
Notts Energy Partnership

Who did the work?
Solar Hot Water installed by Dr Gary Wood of Solar Horizons (01283 529019) Garywood2008@hotmail.com
MR Heating (0783 752 0950)

Mini event on renewables

For anyone who missed the recent event on Renewables, or for anyone who has further questions, there will be a “mini event” at the Test Match Pub on Friday 3rd December at 7.30pm. All are welcome, feel free to bring friends along too.

If you can give me an idea of which renewable(s) interest you, it would be handy (info@wbecohouses.co.uk). There will be at least one installer present and he has expertise in all realistic options for houses.

Open day at Karina’s house

There is an Open Day on AUGUST 23 at Karina’s House. Visitors can call between 2 and 4pm. The focus is on Photovoltaic (PV) systems, but Karina also has a solar thermal system linked to a wood-burning stove and gas boiler for hot water and central heating.
Evo Energy will be on hand to provide technical information on PV, and Karina will be able to talk about her experience as the home-owner.
Please email info@wbecohouses.co.uk so that we know how many to expect and so that we can give you the address details.
There will be further events on a wide range of eco-retrofit topics – keep your eyes on the blog or email us asking to be added to the Eco House Group list to receive invitations by email.

West Bridgford, 1980’s House

Detached, 3 Bedroom, 1 Bathroom & W/C 1986 House
Solar water, Woodburning Stove & Gas Boiler Link Up.

About us and why we did it
We own & run the Fireplace Centre on Radcliffe Road in West Bridgford, for many years we have been selling woodburning stoves & central heating. Last March we teamed up with a local solar company, Solar-Heat. Together we have been carrying out solar-woodburning-gas installations, which prompted us to install it on our own house enabling us to closely monitor the effectiveness & learn more on designing our tailor made systems.

Heating and Power
Gas boiler linked with solar panels & multi-fuel stove. The solar provides almost all of the hot water in the summer, the M/F stove does the heating & hot water in the winter & on days when the stove is not lit the gas boiler backs up the system.

Insulation
Currently we only have loft insulation & a few double glazed windows, but plan to do cavity wall insulation in the future & are currently getting quotes for double glazing.

Advantages of our solar hot water and stove
•Greatly reduced gas consumption
•Greatly reduced gas bill
•Fuel for the fire can be purchased from many different sources enabling much more choice than the few gas providers

Disadvantages
•In winter you have to look after the fire (although we find this enjoyable some may not)
•Finding places to store fuel for the fire


Who did each part of the work?

Heating System with Wood Stove, Gas Boiler & Solar Panels,
installed by
The Fireplace Centre & Solar-Heat
41 Radcliffe Road,
West Bridgford,
Nottingham.
NG2 5FF
(0115) 9813670
www.nottinghamfireplacecentre.co.uk
www.solar-heatuk.com

Gas Usage to Date: