Family Home, Swansea. 3 bedrooms + detached garage & garden room [238m2 total floor area]
Floor plans [click to enlarge]
Designs are just complete and planning application submitted for this new house. The development site has been created by subdividing a large area of unused and overgrown land from an existing residential property. The site is South facing and inclined with lovely distant views which drove the design process towards passive solar layouts and larger openings facing South. The project has had a long gestation with a few design options investigated. The client has been positively involved throughout the design process; making certain the house will meet all the family’s needs and they will feel a strong connection with their new home. The final design has been developed through full and detailed construction costings and refined to meet budgets and absolutely minimise the building’s environmental impact.
Lower ground floor level cut into the natural slope creating a lovely private front garden with local blue penant sandstone faced retaining gabions. Existing mature trees along the west boundary provide privacy, shade and a green backdrop to the proposed building.
Main living areas facing South
Note the upper ground floor terrace and glazed lantern flooding the kitchen below with natural light & sunshine.
‘Above ground’ the building is modest and economical – design effort and money is only invested in South facing areas of the design where it gives most benefit.
North facing and blank flank boundary walls have simple treatment.
View from upper terrace looking back to detached garage with glazed garden room in roofspace [also note glazed lantern to kitchen below]
Internal view beneath glazed lantern
Internal view upper ground floor hall
The proposed building is designed on a modular grid to be constructed from low energy ‘Durisol’ blocks; a type of ICF [Insulated Concrete Formwork] made in Wales from recycled wood fibre. Read more about Durisol at their website here
This will be the first time I have used Durisol. I have investigated the material at length and have every confidence in achieving manufacturer’s claimed performance. The material is low energy, comparatively green, fast to build, minimal trades required, wet render applied both sides so airtight, U value of 0.15 w/m2k. The interlocking voids in blocks are fitted with vertical reinforcement bars and filled with high slump concrete. The green rating of the concrete can be improved with partial substitution of Portland cement with Pulverised Fuel Ash. I plan to investigate further the option of using a limecrete mix ['concrete' made with lime not cement] as a ‘greener’ option during the next design stage.
All construction materials have been chosen to be as local, low energy and environmentally benign as possible. The use of natural local materials supports local business & economies, lessens damage to our macro environment and creates healthy internal micro environments [largely] free from the multitudes of carcinogenic pollutants in modern building materials.
Blue Penant Sandstone. Quarried from Gwrhyd quarry in the Swansea Valley. Visit their website here
Traditional lime render & limewash supplied & applied by Welsh Lime Works. Visit Harry & Alan’s website here
Green oak sourced as locally as possible & supplied via Gower Woodland & Charcoal. Visit Matt’s website here
Natural welsh slate from Berwyn quarry in Llangollen. Visit their website here
Lead clad flat roof giving many decades of maintenance free performance and ultimately recyclable.
Solid Welsh oak joinery made by Create Joinery. Visit Andrew’s website here
The building envelope will be ‘superinsulated’ to at least 0.15 w/m2k and heating and hot water provided by a ground source heat pump in combination with ‘wet’ wood stoves and solar thermal panels powering a large thermal store and underfloor heating. Rainwater will be harvested in a below ground tank and recycled for flushing toilets and washing machines and excess stormwater managed via an engineered below ground cellular SUDS system. I expect the building to achieve Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4 or AECB SIlver performance standards and give the owners extremely low long term running costs. I expect financial payback of the extra investment in ‘green’ features to be well within a decade at current energy prices, and even more quickly if/when energy prices continue to rise and we are eventually taxed on the carbon efficiency of our homes.
I’m very happy with the design. I expect it to be a fabulous and healthy family home that will give a lifetime of service to the owners. I think my client’s committed investment in proper architectural design time and in quality natural building materials will produce a building with deeply added value in many ways – a great economic investment, it will promote the health & well being of occupants and will be a nice contribution to the area that ages gracefully with natural patinas. Can’t wait to build it, we have all digits crossed now for a successful planning application.
Tags: gower, green, house.new.build, materials, work in progress