ZedFactory achieves Code Level 6
The first Code Level 6 certified homes
ZedFactory’s terrace of six houses for the Metropolitan Housing Trust in Upton near Northampton are the first homes to receive Code Level 6 ‘as built’ certification. The houses use ZedFactory’s RuralZed approach which consists of a massive laminated timber structural system with a highly insulated envelope which results in zero demand for space heating. A small wood pellet boiler is used only to top up hot water in winter. According to ZedFactory, the annual biomass consumed bu a RuralZed dwelling is ‘well within the quota available per UK resident without using agricultural land’. Hot water in summer is provided by evacuated tube solar hot water panels on the roof and PVs on the southfacing roofs meet the annual electricity demand.
Announcing the Code 6 certification, Bill Dunster said that RuralZed could provide the solution to the UK’s housing need in future ‘when Ryan Air is folk history and the UK has to run on the limited stock of renewable energy available within its national boundaries.’
Filed under: Eco-projects
John Christopher’s zero carbon house design, currently under construction in Birmingham, is also designed to meet Code Level 6. The solar hot water panels will feed a heat store which will contribute to space heating, as does the wood burning stove which is fed by prunings from the garden. Airtightness, heat exchanging ventilation, and passive solar features are as important as the insulation in conserving heat - see more details at zerocarbonhousebirmingham.org.uk.
Dear Hattie
From one MIT architect to another: Bravo!
I am delighted to learn more from your AJ blog about the Zedfactory Code Level 6 Houses, and delighted that you are sustainability editor for the AJ. This page looks like a gold-mine of low-carbon links.
AT A C Architects we continue to carry out renovations and new houses which are as low carbon as our clients’ budgets and constrained city sites will permit. While every new house presents another opportunity to push the energy boundaries lower, it is in fact renovations which are going to be the most significant for building energy use targets - so far no Sustainability Code for them.
Our ACACL office is recycled corner store with two flats over. In 2004-6 we installed natural ventilation, rainwater plumbing, boreholes, heat pump, solar panels and underfloor heating. Most of the winter we heat the office with sunshine and computers, and in the summer we are blissfully cool, and reckon to be essentially carbon neutral. See our website@ http://www.acarchitects.com
Some other leads for your site:
- Urban Buzz at University College London has a good website, especially the presentations at the Low-Carbon Building Symposium July 2008,and the Sustainable Cities conference Dec 2008. They also helped fund CarbonBuzz.
- Think 08 conference presented a clear set of priorities to government ministers for “feed-in” tariffs for renewable energy generation - these appear to be going forward, as have worked for E.ON in Germany for many years.
- New book (Jan 09), “Sustainable Energy - without the hot air” by Cambridge Univ Prof of Physics, David MacKay, has had a huge impact on UK government thinking, and has been trumpeted in the US; it marshalls a vast amount of data to help people think strategically about future CO2 reduction targets. The entire book is on the website, http://www.withouthotair.com, comments are quickly answered, and the whole enterprise is regularly updated.
- Big conference abour renewables in Cambridge 19 June: “Cleanpower” at Murray Edwards College.
More power to you - renewable, of course.
All best wishes,
Margaret Reynolds
Architect RIBA, AIA Intl Assoc
For and on behalf of
A C Architects Cambridge Ltd
33-35 Victoria Road
Cambridge CB4 3BW
T: 01223 576315
W: http://www.acarchitects.com
As part of achieving Code Level 6, the homes were also certified under the ACPO Secured by Design scheme which further endorses the role that crime prevention design plays in creating safe and sustainable homes and communities.