Scotland's Housing Expo 2010 - Plot 11+12
Following a successful design competition HLM Architects are developing a terrace of 3 family houses to Passivhaus Standard as part of Scotland’s Housing Expo; The Highland Housing Fair scheduled to take place in August 2010, as Scotland’s first ever housing fair.
A unique event, it is based upon similar models found in mainland Europe, particularly Finland where historically the housing fair concept has proven very successful in stimulating quality design and innovation in Finnish housing. The expo aspires to be a catalyst to prompt a similar kind of change within the Highlands and throughout the UK. By creating an exemplar community, it will act as a model for future housing design and development.
The key components of the housing fair are the design and construction of 55 architect designed houses, and the staging of the month long event to compliment the flagship housing development, opening to the public in August 2010. The homes have a strong focus upon high quality design, innovative technology, and the use of sustainable systems and features.
Taking the competition theme of solar design, the terrace exploits the climate and in particular solar energy to significantly reduce energy consumption. The main living spaces are orientated to the climate inclusive side of the house using the elements + climate; the utility spaces to the north inhabit the thick, heavily insulated north wall – excluding the cold climate and closing out the elements. Small openings are provided in the north wall creating the effect of a quiet demeanour to North Street whilst minimising overlooking. The rear of the house however is intended to be much more private and, in a sense, more dramatic and is therefore treated with a more modern approach embracing the climate. Large expanses of south facing glazing help to create an open feeling towards the garden and to the woodland and trees beyond. At night the glazed living spaces can glow beacon like into the dark reaches of the garden.
HLM Architects (Glasgow) designed the competition winning scheme and are working with Buro Happold Engineers to deliver the units ahead of the Housing Fair in August 2010. The SPHC played a key role in the project, supporting the design team through detail design stages with energy efficiency consultancy and PassivHaus Planning Package Calculations, and will supply vital Passive House components for the construction of the units.
Details of the Passive House design:
The picture shows the concept with as little glazing as possible on the sides not facing south, whilst still having a light, open, refreshing atmosphere inside the cosy, highly energy-efficient homes.
Calculations have shown that the average heating consumption of one of these 3-bed units will be an astonishingly low 1,430kWh/(m2a) – that is less than a tenth of what a comparable house from the average existing stock would use. This is made possible by using a Passive House-proven system from RTC Timber, together with Internorm triple-glazed energy-saving windows and a Paul Atmos 175 MVHR.
A heat pump helps reduce the primary energy value and therefore, together with the measures mentioned above, lowers the CO2-emissions for space heating, DHW and electricity (i.e. the overall energy consumption) to about a fifth of a comparable house from the existing stock (i.e. an 80% overall reduction).
For more information on Scotland's Housing Fair, please visit www.scotlandshousingexpo.com
The Results
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