This house was one of thirteen built on Walters Way in the mid 1980s by the now famous architect Walter Segal. He developed a system of self build that people could manage themselves; therefore the properties were built in standard sizes with standard materials. The houses are built on piles on the ground and on stilts so that occupants can access underneath the house.
A number of retrofit and energy efficiency measures were implemented in the 2000s including insulating the existing walls with 200mm Pavatherm wood fibre insulation and lime render, reducing the U-value to 0.18 W/m2K.
The floors were insulated with 22mm Isolair sarking board, 100mm Pavatherm boards, 100mm existing glass wool and 30mm Gutex wood fibre board resulting in a U value of 0.15 W/m2K.
The existing roof was insulated with 100mm glass wool, 100mm hemp and cotton batts, 100mm Pavatherm insulation resulting in a U value of 0.14 W/m2K.
Additional measures include:
- Green roof
- Whole house MVHR system
- Two storey passive solar chimney on the south for passive heating in winter and active cooling in summer
- Solar thermal panels, used primarily for renewable space heating in the winter and linked to thermal store and ground level underfloor heating
- 2kWp Solar PV system