Underhill - Passive House on Grand Designs - England's first certified Project
An unusual project is currently being build in a very prominent location at the top of a hill in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. it will be one of the first certified Passive Houses in England. The design of the house is very bold and will be shown on the Kevin McCloud's Grand Designs program.
The existing barn (that will be our office) will be carefully restored, and the new building underneath and adjacent to it will in contrast be strikingly modern. Being dug into the hill to be invisible from the surrounding countryside, this is essentially a stealth house, with absolute minimal visual as well as environmental impact on landscape.
The house will be entirely glazed to the south, and the rest of it being earth-sheltered and therefore highly insulated creates the perfect passive solar design.
The structure of this underground house will be entirely concrete, much of which will be left exposed internally to exploit the benefits of its thermal mass. It will be insulated and waterproofed externally for the same reason.
The first Certified Passive House on Grand Designs
On 29th January 2010, the reward for all the effort was received: The Underhill House project passed Passive House Certification, and is therefore the first certified domestic Passive House in England. The large solar collector area in combination with a 2000 litre accumulator tank provides DHW for the best part of the year. If a top-up is needed, it will be delivered via wood-burning stove with back boiler which is also supplying space heat (if needed).
To see more of the project, have a look at: http://www.aipassivhaus.com/index.html
The Results
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