Andy Hales Ecological Architect & Consultant 

Andy worked on this Grain Architecture project from Stage 4 (Technical Design), through to contract Completion; including developing the Detail Drawings and information, and Contract Administration. 

The house is built to a similar standard as the Passivhaus being built on the shared site, with Passivhaus level airtightness and attention to detail, but without the same level of optimisation in terms of building form, design, and insulation. The project prioritised minimising embodied carbon and use of natural building materials throughout. The foundations, and services could not use natural materials, but embodied carbon was minimised with concrete free steel screw pile foundations supporting timber glulam ground beams, which hold up the suspended timber floor and timber wall panels. The floor and roof are constructed of timber i-joists installed on site and the walls were prefabricated twin timber stud panels. The wall panels, floor joists & rafters were all filled with blown cellulose (recycled newspaper) insulation, and the entire house was wrapped with a continuous layer of rigid woodfibre insulation. The entire inner surface of the thermal envelope was lined with airtight OSB, with all junctions and penetrations sealed with airtight tape.

The external walls are mix of lime render and larch cladding, the roofs are natural slate and metal standing seam, the outbuilding is built to match the house with waney edge larch cladding and a corrugated metal roof with solar panels to the South-West slope. Another PV Solar array on the South-East slope of the main house. Inside of the airtight layer is a battened services cavity with wood wool plaster carrying board and lime plaster internal finish.