Creating Opportunities for Community Engagement in Cricket.

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It has been a busy few years in sport for gcp Chartered Architects, particularly when it comes to cricket.

We are continuing to support the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) Urban Cricket Centre Initiative, a corner stone of Inspiring Generations 2020-24, the game-wide five-year strategic plan to grow cricket in England. This initiative, which is being piloted across the country, looks to create new cricket facilities in densely populated urban areas where access to traditional facilities are limited.

Flyer Axo Phase 2, Bradford

Flyer Axo Phase 2, Bradford

The latest scheme in Bradford will provide two new cricket lanes and additional community facilities that will transform the Parkside Sports Centre into the second ECB Urban Cricket Centre. The first centre at the former Leyton Cricket Ground in East London was opened by Graham Gooch in July 2019 to celebrate the Cricket World Cup.

Following on from the Bradford and Leyton schemes, we are currently working on the very early stages a third pilot site, also in northern England. If the pilots prove successful, centres will be rolled out across ten major urban areas in England, with each area supporting a minimum of two cricket centres.

Our most recent commission is working with Middlesex Cricket to develop a new cricket development centre at the William Perkin School in Ealing. In honour of the talented Middlesex left hander who formed a formidable opening partnership with Graham Barlow in the early 1980’s, the centre will be named the Wilf Slack Cricket Centre. This project, to compliment Lords Indoor Cricket Centre, will see the school’s existing multi-use sports hall transformed into a cricket focused facility that also makes provision for badminton and basketball. Designed in exacting standards as defined by the ECB, the Wilf Slack Cricket Centre will promote participation from an early age and lay out clear routes for progression in the both the men’s and women’s game.

All centres designed by gcp Chartered Architects integrate the latest thinking around netting layout and configuration to maximize flexibility in use and coaching potential, LED lighting to provide the optimum playing environment for the specified sports (particularly cricket), and sports flooring to provide the highest performing surface. All installations are designed to standards defined by the ECB Technical Guidance Notes and tested upon completion to ensure safe playing environments.

For an informal chat about your cricket development project contact gcp Chartered Architects cricket facility design specialists:

Here are some other exciting sport projects undertaken by gcp in the last two years…

  • Foundation Park Pavilion, County Ground, Swindon.

The Willows – Start on site

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We have been working with Curo for over 4 years now to develop 3 adjacent parcels of land in Lawrence Weston. The development will provide 57 new affordable homes across the site, formerly home to the Longcross pub, Holly House and Rockwell House. Last week we had our first site meeting where we finally met the Jehu team in person. It was also an opportunity for some members of the team to see the site in person for the first time!

Works have begun on the Rockwell site where the old care home has been demolished. My inner child loved seeing the diggers in action! Curo’s old office, Holly House, has now been stripped back ahead of refurbishment works to create accommodation for over- 55s.

It’s been a long journey getting here. The Willows, or as I know it Corbet Close, was one of the first projects I worked on when I joined gcp 4 years ago and several initial feasibilities had already been explored. Planning was finally approved in 2019 after an 11-month process. Being a newly qualified architect, I get very excited to see projects I’ve seen through from the beginning getting onto site. I’m looking forward to being back in 4 weeks’ time to see the progress. Esther Brown, Architect, gcp Architects

Bright new home at Clover Place, West Oxfordshire

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Such a pleasure to see Clover Place looking so homely! There is still work to do in the garden but the interior spaces are looking great.

Our clients wanted a home for the future: a home which could easily adapt to changing mobility, and a home with low energy demand. gcp designed the house to Passivhaus principles and with an adaptable internal layout to suit future needs. The interior is beautifully bright and will have a fantastic outlook over the garden once the latter is complete.

Our favourite spot? The window seat in the dining area, definitely.

gcp supported the client with this special project from initial conception right through to completion. We provided visualisations throughout the design stage to ensure we were correctly capturing the client’s vision. Following the award of the building contract to social enterprise Toolshed, gcp acted as Contract Administrator, bringing the build to completion.

If you are looking to build a low-energy home, please get in touch with us to see how we can support you!

Century Park - It’s been a long time coming! 

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We have been working with Curo Enterprise for over 4 years now to develop former Bristol City Council land in Lawrence Weston and provide 128 new homes. Last week we were finally able to see the project coming out of the ground! Although the view was fairly limited to ground beams, pipes and DPCs, it was a pretty exciting moment for me to see the scheme materialising.

The development is a mix of 2-, 3- and 4- bedroom homes alongside a small number of 1- and 2-bed apartments. The initial brief required us to provide a high-density housing solution without relying heavily on apartments, to create a marketable and affordable development. We were determined from the outset to design not only high-quality homes but also high-quality public space. The development features public open space with dedicated play areas as well as a trim trail; the layout of the terraces and design of surfaces create a safe and attractive community for all. The houses themselves are elegantly designed. We have used simple but sensitively placed brick and cladding details to bring vibrancy to the scheme.

Century Park is one of those special projects for me, having poured so many hours into the initial site planning, design development, community consultation, planning submission, technical design and now construction support. We are so pleased that the homes are already getting a lot of interest from buyers; I really can’t wait to see the final result. Sarah Makroum, Architectural Assistant, gcp Architects.

A lifetime of studying: Esther Brown

I am pleased to say that, after studying for 9 years, I am now a fully qualified Architect.

I am often asked if all the studying was worth it, how I managed to juggle working full time and studying part time, and whether I would tell my 18-year-old self not to do it if I could go back in time. Those who know me well know that I can’t sit still for too long – I like to be active, hands-on and outdoors. Sitting at a computer is not quite the correct fit. With all that being said, I love my job and I would absolutely tell my 18-year-old self to do it again. Most days I don’t mind sitting down or indoors all day (the sit/stand desks at work certainly help), and I really think that this is testament to my love for the job I have spent so long studying for.

The process to becoming an Architect wasn’t completely smooth sailing, and there were several times at university when I felt like quitting. I have been quite open with those who ask that I was never a huge fan of the university system because I learn much better by getting stuck in with a practical task; I always felt like the system did not suite my learning style. I also believed that I hadn’t learned much at university and everything I knew was due to work in practice. But then I taught first year students during the final year of my Master’s and I was reminded that we were all clueless once! 

Despite the challenges of studying at university, it has certainly taught me the foundations and I have learned from the whole process - the good and the bad experiences. I feel truly grateful to be in a job that I love. 

I do like to challenge myself; whilst I was studying for my chartership I also undertook a digital marketing course so that I could support the team as we develop our own in-house marketing strategy. This meant I was then studying for 2 courses and working full time which was far from easy! Many evenings my brain was frazzled and whatever I read or listened to would go in one ear and straight out the other! But I passed both of them and have enjoyed applying the newly acquired knowledge. I am, however, looking forward to giving myself some time off as lockdown restrictions begin to ease.  

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Planning application submitted for affordable homes in Woolavington

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We’re extremely pleased to have submitted a planning application for 14 new affordable homes in Woolavington, Somerset. This scheme builds on gcp’s rich portfolio of housing design and community involvement across Bristol and the South-West.

Our proposals respond to the sensitive rural context of the site, and early involvement from specialists enabled us to achieve a scheme which brings the construction of much-needed homes together with the protection of local ecology and landscape character. We’re always delighted to work with clients such as SHAL Housing Association who share our passion for sustainable communities; the homes will be built to high energy efficiency standards and include low-carbon technologies to reduce energy demand and fuel poverty.

We love the collaborative nature of this scheme with ongoing involvement from Sedgemoor District Council Housing Team, early input from specialists, community consultation, and a project team determined to bring the scheme to life.

Project team: gcp Chartered Architects, Taylor Lewis, EG Carter Ltd, AFLA, Infrastruct CS Ltd

It is all in the detail.

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The brickwork on Mi-Space’s Oakfield development is amazing. Really attractive bricks have been specified, and bond patterns used that showcase them at their best. There is Flemish bond between paired front doors with the alternating header and stretcher bricks in contrasting colours. The projecting brick detail also features contrasting bricks, which with the sunshine and shadow looks really spectacular. Visitors to the development will also notice that prominent corner plots feature a basket weave pattern which is an eye-catching but quite subtle detail.

gcp have prepared brick setting out details to assist Mi-Space in achieving these really great results.

www.oakfieldswindon.co.uk.

Phase 1 at Oakfield development making great progress.

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Fantastic progress is being made on site where Mi-Space are constructing the Oakfield development in Swindon for Nationwide Building Society. Phase 1 will see the completion of 44 houses, 12 walk-up apartments and the Hub building.

The houses and walk-ups are a mix of open market and affordable units. They are traditional masonry cavity construction of two and three storeys in height, and progress ranges from completion of ground floor slab to installation of first floor joists.

The Hub has a community room on the ground floor and 18 intergenerational apartments, for local affordable housing provider GreenSquareAccord. Construction of the 4 storey concrete frame is now at roof level.

www.oakfieldswindon.co.uk.

The Hub building with phase 1 houses in the foreground.

The Hub building with phase 1 houses in the foreground.

From the roof of the Hub building, phase 1 houses can be seen to the right with phase 3 to the left and phase 2 in the distance.

From the roof of the Hub building, phase 1 houses can be seen to the right with phase 3 to the left and phase 2 in the distance.


Residential Tower Blocks: Ensuring Building Safety Through Collaboration

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In summer 2018 gcp were appointed by Rateavon Ltd to assist in the refurbishment of Spencer & Norton Houses in Redcliffe. This was the latest in a series of projects for Bristol City Council’s Major Projects team (BCCMP) which looked to regenerate their housing stock. Historically these works consisted of giving the buildings a face lift and improving thermal performance by insulating external walls and roofs, and replacing doors and windows. The brief for Spencer & Norton Houses was no different, but the path to delivery changed with the amendment to Building Regulation Approved Document B in November 2018.

This amendment was the first major change to regulation following publication of the Hackitt Report in May 2018. The amendment stated that:

“New regulation 7(2) of the Building Regulations 2010 applies to any building with a storey at least 18m above ground level… Regulation 7(2) requires that all materials which become part of an external wall or specified attachment achieve European Class A2-s1, d0 or Class A1 except for components exempted in Regulation 7(3).”

For those unfamiliar with the Euroclass system the first category A1/A2/B/…/F relates to combustibility, with classes ranging from F (untested) to A1 (non-combustible). Materials which achieve a combustibility rating between D and A2 can then be sub-divided by two other criteria, ‘s’ for smoke propagation and ‘d’ for flaming droplets. In each case the lower the number the better the material has performed. Just to add to the confusion ‘s’ rankings range from 1-3, whilst ‘d’ rankings range from 0-2. For a product to be suitable for installation on an external wall it needs to be non-combustible, produce little or no smoke and produce no flaming droplets, A2-s1, d0 or A1.

This requirement was long overdue and highlighted a section of the ‘golden thread’ which had previously been missing. The design team now had to identify all elements which formed part of the external wall and contact suppliers/manufacturers to confirm that these products are either exempt under Regulation 7(3) or have a fire test certificate proving the performance against fire.

The project at Spencer & Norton Houses was one of the first high rise residential developments to incur these new regulations. Initially it was clear that this was a shock to the industry and many manufacturers either did not have fire test certificates or these certificates were out of date. In one instance the design team chose to organize its own fire test to be completely sure that the new balcony panels would be suitable.

Being at the front of the curve in tackling these changes was certainly challenging but through close collaboration with the design team and Bristol City Council Building Control we identified a solution and implemented this strategy to satisfy the Building Regulations. Now we have a method in place the process will only get easier as we continue to work on BCCMP’s remaining housing stock.

Whilst these standards are currently only enforceable for buildings over 18m, it is likely that further amendments will see these requirements spread to a wider group of buildings. We are already seeing early adoption across housing association projects where clients will not permit external wall materials which do not achieve European Class A2-s1, d0 or Class A1.

Recommendations from the Hackitt Report will likely drive change throughout the construction industry in coming years. This change is vital in ensuring our existing and proposed housing stock is safe and suitable for all. Information management will form a key part of this process, but this is nothing new to the construction industry. We already have the tools to make the necessary improvements. We just need an industry wide change of mindset to prioritise building safety during procurement, design and construction.

 

Progress on site at Oakfields, Swindon.

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Work is progressing well on site at Nationwide’s Oakfield development in Swindon. Foundations and ground floor slab are complete on the first plots and Mi-Space are now well underway with construction of the blockwork and brickwork. The first homes will be completed later this year.

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Fantastic progress on site at Clover Place, West Oxfordshire.

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Clover Place in West Oxfordshire is our first Passivhaus project constructed using the Beattie Passive construction system.  The house is progressing well on site and the main frame is now largely complete.  Externally the frame is enclosed in a weather-tight breather membrane and the roof tiling has commenced. Internally partitions are in place with the internal air-barrier membrane installed and services being installed.  It is good to see the form of the building taking shape and we will be excited to see the roof profile complete and tiled so that scaffold can begin to come down.

 

Apprenticeship blog by Owen Faunt

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We are proud to be supporting Owen through his Architectural Apprenticeship at South Bank University, London. As part of National Apprenticeship Week 2021, we asked Owen to give us an account of his last year, a sterling effort given the challenging circumstances.

It seems strange that only a year ago I was posting for National Apprenticeship Week under very different circumstances. The past year, has at times, seemed to crawl along but on reflection the time has almost evaporated! For someone who is very much learning their trade, there are immediately obvious challenges - not knowing what to do at times, wondering if I’m doing enough/the right things, wondering how I will get in all my required training hours. However, I count myself as extremely lucky to have been able to get a solid chunk of time under my belt before having to work from home. I can’t imagine trying to learn Revit from scratch, without any of my wonderfully understanding colleagues on hand. The same is true of university, while things like model making remotely present their own challenges, with no design studio this year, remote lectures have been fairly straightforward. More importantly I’ve got a great group of friends which afford me a support bubble. I really feel for the 2020 cohort that have literally never stepped on campus, never met their peers and have had to prepare for design crits 100% remotely. For me, the people around me (virtually) at university have been nothing short of essential to my sanity and my academic survival.

It wasn’t until I started writing this blog post, that I realised it might stir up some emotion in me but reflecting on the last year seems to have done just that. I’ve had an extremely easy ride compared to millions of others, I’ve even enjoyed swathes of this strange year but I think (like most), I now realise that it has fatigued me significantly mentally. With vaccines now being rolled out, I look forward to next year’s National Apprenticeship Week post with cautious but relentless optimism, we will get there. Hopefully I’ve not strayed too far off topic and if I’ve learnt anything in the past year, it’s that people around us are often what gives us our strength. With this in mind I would like to urge you to continue to stay safe, look after yourself and others.

Owen Faunt, gcp Chartered Architects

He has produced some fantastic work, below are some of the highlights, keep up the amazing work Owen!

Special moment for Lawrence Weston as planning submitted for Ambition House, a much needed Community Hub.

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gcp is delighted to have submitted a full planning application to Bristol City Council for Ambition Lawrence Weston’s new community hub in the heart of Lawrence Weston.

This will create a fantastic facility so desperately needed for the community of Lawrence Weston providing multi-purpose halls, meeting rooms, workshops,  a community led interactive library and much more.

We have been working with Ambition Lawrence Weston for several years now and have had various setbacks along the way, but we are proud of the proposed scheme and the determination of the team.

Ambition House, Lawrence Weston, Bristol.

Care home Blog, a personal account by Tom Hubbard

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I started working with gcp in August 2019. One of the first projects that hit my desk was St Phillips and St James care home. We have a history of working for this care home and in 2013 we worked with them to create an extension to adjoin two existing buildings creating additional bedroom space, circulation space and lift to make the building work better for the residents.

As the care home is set across three existing terraced houses there are some odd level differences leading to staff having to go up and down sets of stairs to access different areas of the building on the same floors. To address this issue, we worked closely with the care home to design out the need to use these stairs by combining two bedrooms into one bedroom and incorporating a new by-pass access corridor.

Within the new bedroom we have worked closely with the care home to ensure the specification of the shower room and WC are designed with the elderly residents and care staff in mind. This includes grab rails to WC, shower controls outside of the shower cubicle, level access into the shower etc.

During the construction stage of this project the dreaded COVID-19 hit, and works were temporarily halted. Fortunately, we were able to create a solution to reduce the need for SW Wren building services to access the project through the care home. All access to the area was through the external scaffold tower and the existing bedroom doors were maintained and sealed effectively isolating the new bedroom and corridor from the rest of the care home. This allowed the majority of works to be carried out in isolation. Close contact and communication with the care home was maintained when larger items were required to be brought through the building.

Despite the challenges COVID-19 presented us and difficulties in obtaining materials the project was successfully completed in late 2020 and the client was very satisfied with the end result.

We are proud of the outcome and look forward to working with the care home in the future to help improve the experience of the elderly residents, enjoying a functional and comfortable building. 

More success! Planning consent received for Priory Court.

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Elim Housing Association provides housing for young homeless parents at Priory Court in Knowle, Bristol. The site is integral in supporting Young Parents in their journey towards more independent living in the future. Priory Court currently provides fifteen units of accommodation for young homeless parents. and ten self-contained rooms. Accommodation at Priory Court is provided in two buildings.

A converted Victorian villa (block A) is at the front of the site containing five rooms and shared facilities. To the rear of the site is a three-storey annex (block B) constructed in the 1990’s containing 10 self-contained rooms.  

The proposals aim to add an additional three rooms to Block A and provide the existing rooms in Block A with an en-suite bathroom. To facilitate the additional rooms a small single storey extension is required. The rest of the site will receive a thorough refurbishment.

gcp are delighted to be assisting Elim with this project continuing a long relationship with them supporting their aims to improve the lives and opportunities of those in need.

Building your house to Passivhaus standard: an interview with our client

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“Our energy bills have dropped by about 70% from the old house that was on site.”
— Client, Homelands Passivhaus, Dundry

gcp Chartered Architects were appointed by a private client to create a flexible 3-bedroom home to be certified to the Passivhaus performance standard. We have recently interviewed our client Roy and we are excited to share his experience below.

Hello Roy, I would like to thank you for taking the time to share your experience as a Passivhaus owner and answer our questions. I am sure most people would wonder when did you find out about Passivhaus and how did you decide that you would like to live in one.

Our main driver was to have a house that had the lowest possible running costs. We recognised this was going to mean some more investments upfront, but we were trying to think about the lifetime of the house, recognising it would outlive us. (A concept that was introduced to us when we attended a Passivhaus open day: a building should be designed to outlive its current owners!)

We were already familiar with the concept of Passivhaus as our friends in Switzerland live in a very airtight, super insulated house supported by an MVHR system. Triple glazing and several other features often seen in a Passivhaus design are commonplace in new builds in several parts of Europe and Scandinavia. So, although their house was not formally certified, it is a Passivhaus in all but name! It helped us to see some of the benefits first-hand and to consider the maintenance of running a Passivhaus, which was important to us, we did not want to build a house that was too complex to understand or live in.

Once the route of Passivhaus was decided, we went about gaining as much information as we could, visiting two other houses through the Passivhaus open days. We are hoping to support this going forward as it really helped us to see how Passivhaus would work in the UK.  I also read ‘The Passivhaus Handbook’ and pretty much everything else I could find on the internet to help us understand the choices we were making.

Once we had decided on the ICF system, I actually went and laboured on a couple of other house builds when they did their ‘pour days’ as you tend to need a few extra hands-on-deck during this part of the process. This was arranged through the local Nudura representative, the ‘pour days’ are when you fill the void created by the ICF with concrete – and lots of it. The main thing this taught me was not to underestimate the benefits of good preparation and having the site ready….and allow enough time to double check everything is really ready for the pour!

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Having reviewed the information you have shared in your blog, I understand that you have been actively involved in building your house. Was this an easy process? Would you like to share an insight to your experience?

Easy? No. Worth it? Absolutely!

I always knew I wanted to be hands-on and do more than ‘project managing’ and I am very lucky to have a brother who was able to take a break from his own business to come and live on site to help.  I say help, he brought the skilled labour to the build!

We did over 90% of the work ourselves, having only a couple of trades in over the whole project. This meant that I was aware of all the decisions that needed to be made and the interdependencies of certain stages. We drove the schedule for the work, so we set the pace.

Being hands on allowed me to really shop around for materials well in advance to get the best prices on everything that we could. The saving we had on some of the most basic building materials was massive, from big one-off items down to non-specialist products like screws and silicone.

My brother, Mark, is a carpenter by trade and so the ICF system was a perfect fit. Many of the worries of things like getting the corners square for the foundations were taken away as these came pre-formed from Isoquick for the insulated slab and from Nudura for the ICF system. So with the regular use of a laser level (well worth the investment to buy one rather than rent) and a trusty spirit level the walls went up quickly, true and square.

There was only one sleepless night, at the start of project, the night before the pour of the foundations into the insulated slab! I had done all the estimations for the concrete myself, having never done anything of this scale before.  It was the equivalent of 6 concrete wagons and I just hoped I’d ordered enough but not too much! Luckily, it turned out to be pretty much spot on.

Some of the more physically demanding work was the dry-stone render on the bottom half of the house. It took the two of us 6 months to do but we think the results are amazing and worth all the hard work.  

Living on site in the remaining half of the old bungalow really helped save money and time. It meant we knew the site was secure and we were never caught out with an early delivery or left hanging around at the end of a day. Also, in the evenings when I was ordering materials, I could pop back into the site to double check dimensions if I needed to. There was no commute in the morning, or at lunch time and on days when things were going well it was easy to keep going.

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How has living in a Passivhaus standard dwelling affected the quality of your life? Have you experienced a significant reduction in your energy bills?

To be honest it is very much what we were expecting – but I think that is because we had done a lot of research. A real positive is living in a house that is draft-free, it is hard to describe what it’s like to open a window and nothing happening. If we want to get the outside air in, on say a lovely sunny day, you need to open two windows otherwise nothing happens! It is a very strange experience.

We live close to Bristol Airport and have noticed less noise from the planes. We were worried the metal roof would have been noisy when it rained, especially with a vaulted ceiling inside, but it’s so well insulated, it has not been a problem.

Our energy bills have dropped by about 70% from the old house that was on site. Having 4.5KW of solar PV panels on the roof has significantly reduced our electricity use. We have also made some other adjustments of how we live to maximise the use of the PV when we are generated, like putting the dishwasher on in the morning rather than after dinner and doing an extra load of washing on sunny days.

Our hot water from March to October is heated by the PV panels and the house requires no heating over this period, so that is a great time of year for us. For the winter months, we have a log burner in the garage that heats a large thermal mass which tops-up the remaining hot water and heat requirements. We light the log burner once every 5 days, but this depends on the weather. When we have sunny winter days the windows on the south side of the house provide some amazing heat gain and the PV panels will also generate.

The other bill that we have seen drop has been our water bill. We decided to invest in a rainwater harvesting system and bury a 3,000-litre tank below ground. This tank serves the toilets and washing machine. It was a big upfront investment, but we felt it was easier to do from the start when we already had diggers on site than to try to retrofit in the future. Currently we are estimating about a 50% saving on our water usage.

Condensation was a real issue in our old house having to use the “window vac” every morning to clear the glass on the inside. Now we have a different condensation issue, in certain weather conditions it is on the outside as the glazing is so well insulated.

Another area where we have noticed a difference is in the bathrooms. Its lovely not having extractor fans running all the time to clear the steam and there is no mould build up, even on an internal bathroom. The MVHR monitors the moisture in the air as it extracts and just boosts the ventilation as and when required. This means all the condensations in the bathroom clears a lot quicker.

It is amazing to have a large open plan living, dining and kitchen area upstairs, which is always warm. To have such a large space warm all the time has been fantastic. Slightly cooler bedrooms downstairs is also a benefit of having ‘flipped’ our house from a traditional layout.

We are also able to confirm that MVHR units are not noisy, ours is located in a cupboard in the middle of the house and we do not hear it. Do not be put off by MVHR units, when fitted right, without tight bends in the ventilation pipe and when well supported and fixed, they make no noise at all.

A slightly strange benefit of such a well insulated house is that the large windows aren’t cold spots, so you have an even temperature throughout which means you can fully utilise the space.

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What do your friends and family think about your new home?

HAHA, usually shocked that we have actually done it!

No one can believe that we have our thermostat set to 21 and yet have reduced our bills.

Most of our friends and neighbours are stunned by all the stonework. We essentially built our house on bedrock so all the stone came out of the ground when we were digging the foundations, it would have been a shame to have not utilised it. It is a fascinating stone and changes colour in different lights, some days the house almost glows.

We have inspired at least one friend (that we know of) to want to live in a Passivhaus of their own one day. The most common question we get from friends who have experienced the Passivhaus for themselves is to ask why we aren’t building all houses like this. This is a very good question!

The only drawback we have discovered of the Passivhaus is that fresh cut flowers brought by visitors don’t last very long as the house is too warm. We have however found that blubs and other plants live very happily, and the warm house is great for germinating seeds on the window ledge! 

Having successfully completed this project, I am wondering whether you are planning to get involved into any other similar projects in the future?

Not just yet! While we have successfully gained Passivhaus certification and finished the house, there are a few more jobs in the garden to do before I can move onto something else. Covid has made sourcing materials very difficult and added some delays on these jobs, but once these are done, I will need to think about the next challenge. Either I will hunt out the next adventure or it will find me! 

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Last but not least, what advice would you give to someone who is considering building their house to meet the Passivhaus standard?

Over this journey we have gained loads of experience, some of which is specific to Passivhaus and some which is just general advice to self-builders.

  • For anyone wanting to build to Passivhaus standard, educating yourself before you start is critical, there is so much knowledge out there. The more information you know about the products on the market the easier it is to solve problems you encounter on route, for example understanding there are different (sticky) tapes for different jobs and who knew that ‘airtight expanding foam’ was a thing.

  • Airtightness should be considered at all points during the building process, you have to carefully plan each penetration of the Passivhaus envelope to know which products you are going to use to seal the holes you’ve just made. Getting an air-tightness test as soon as you have a dry Passivhaus envelop was something Colin recommended, and I could not agree more. It enabled us to find any points which were leaking and do remedial work to get the structure right before fitting the plaster board.

  • When using the IFC system, make sure you put in enough service ducting before pouring the concrete. It would have been really hard to drill through reinforced concrete. Having planned our service ducting, we were able to get services in easy, we even built in some redundancy and have a few spare for the future!

  • Talk to manufactures of Passivhaus products, their technical departments have been very happy to help and they usually want to make their products perform at their best. They generally got very excited to hear that we were building a full Passivhaus so often went out of their way to help. The Zehnder (MVHR) technical department have been very helpful with software updates and very patient when we have queries.

  • Another benefit of building to Passivhaus standard it that it really does stop you compromising on route. Along the journey it would have been very easy to have compromised and bought building materials which were ‘almost’ the same as the branded product, even though the U value was not quite right for Passivhaus standard. Or to swap out materials when they were not in stock. Having a clear goal of the standard you want to achieve really does stop you from compromising, but we have ended up with a warm home as a result.

Now moving on to the more general stuff for anyone who is considering building their own home.

  • At the start it was really important to consider how we wanted to live in the space and to challenge ourselves to not just replicate how you live today. We found marking out some of the early floor plans in full size, in a car park really helped us visualise and understand our future home and how much space we needed. We challenged everything to really make sure we didn’t live to regret some poor planning decisions. An example of this is where to put the washing machine, usually this goes in a kitchen or a utility room, but neither are near the laundry basket nor where you store clean clothes. The lack of radiators also meant traditional ways of drying clothes had to be reconsidered. Our machine now lives in a purpose-built cupboard under the stairs which also functions as our drying cupboard, neatly tucked behind a door out of sight.

  • From the start we considered how we would clean and maintain the property. We have gone for wall hung toilets to make cleaning easier and wooden floors which are quick to clean.

  • Having a brother who has done a lot of building maintenance in a previous job means he wanted us to have pipe rod points accessible under cupboards in case the pipes ever get blocked. We also have isolation valves on all taps rather than service valves, so if something happens you are not trying to find a screwdriver to turn off the water. On a less dramatic scale it means we can also confidently turn off the water to change the washer on a tap.

  • Living on site during the building process, meant planning and considering the lighting has been much easier. We have been able to come in at different times in the morning and evening and get a feel for the natural light. The lighting in the kitchen was something we manufactured ourselves as we were unable to find anything on the market that did what we wanted. We wanted both bright task lighting but also a warmer upplight. A friendly lighting rep brought us some samples so that we could play with different lighting effects.

  • When using LED lights, we considered where the drivers would be located when laying out the electrics, so they could be changed easily. The bathroom lights have the drivers in the machine room above, so they are easy to change in the future.

  • Really planning the electrics is again critical, we made a few unusual choices but are so pleased that we did. We realised that we would often sit at the dinner table with a laptop and did not want trailing leads to the wall so fitted a floor socket that we now use almost daily! We also fitted shaver points inside the bathroom cupboards for charging toothbrushes out of sight. The wardrobes and kitchen cupboards also have power points, which are really handy.

  • Early in the design stage we sat with Colin and worked out how to build in storage. Having an upside-down house means we do not have a loft space to hide things in, so we had to think differently. We have a lot of built-in storage with a large space under the stairs and large larder cupboards in the kitchen. In the porch we created a good-sized area for storing shoes and coats, so that these didn’t even need to come inside the actual house! The mirrors in our bathrooms hide yet more storage. For more outdoor stuff and gardening things we have a large undercroft under the garage. This was not part of the original plan, but once we discovered it was an option we jumped at the chance. It is also a prefect consistent temperature for storing our crop of pumpkins!

“We have inspired at least one friend to want to live in a Passivhaus of their own one day. The most common question we get from friends who have experienced the Passivhaus for themselves is to why we aren’t building all houses like this. This is a very good question! ”
— Client, Homelands Passivhaus, Dundry

Lockdown Update

With lockdown in England and across the UK, we wanted to reassure our clients that gcp are still open for business in line with Government guidelines for construction.

Our team is mainly working remotely and holding meetings online with essential site visits conducted with Covid-safe measures in place.

 We are contactable on our office number, with each member of staff using their own unique extension number. If you don’t know the extension number these are listed on our footers or please hold for reception.

We are always happy to talk about your project plans so drop us a line or email Jonathan.platt@gcparch.co.uk