Sustain submits ecohouse project for retrofit competition

Monday, 18 January 2010

Carbon reduction company Sustain has entered a national competition that rewards excellence in low carbon refits of existing social housing.

Designs for the Mendip Housing Ecohouse have now been drawn up and submitted by Sustain to the Retrofit for the Future competition, which is being run by the Government-backed Technology Strategy Board.

Successful proposals will proceed to phase two of the competition in February 2010, where the most promising designs will be taken through to real builds.

Sustain is leading the design of the Mendip Housing Ecohouse in partnership with Mark Kingsley Architects, 1 World Solar (installers of renewable energy technologies) and Bath University’s architecture and civil engineering department.

The three-bedroom mid-terrace house in Coleford near Radstock, Somerset, was built in the 1930s and is in need of major refurbishment before it can be re-let to new tenants.

Kevin Boniface, Senior Associate at Sustain, said: “More than a quarter of carbon emissions in the UK come from housing. Our designs show how existing housing stock can be more sustainable using innovative and replicable ideas that are also financially viable.”

Designs for the Mendip Housing refit include super insulation alongside high levels of air tightness to reduce the need for heating as much as possible. An innovative solar heat pump will provide space heating, while solar panels will be installed to provide both domestic hot water and electricity.

A heat recovery system will be fitted to the shower, recovering around 60 per cent of the heat that would otherwise be lost to drainage.

A mechanical ventilation heat recovery system will also be installed transferring heat from stale moist air generated in the kitchen and bathroom to incoming fresh air, further reducing heat loss.

Plans also include a whole house energy use feedback system, devised by Bath university, that will allow occupants to see how much energy is used during activities such as watching TV and surfing the internet. The system will also tell occupants how much electricity is being generated by any on-site micro-generation technologies and will work out related cost savings.

The project is expected to reduce the dwelling’s C02 emissions by over 80 per cent.

The Technology Strategy Board has earmarked up to £16m for Retrofit for the Future projects through the competition, which will connect organisations that will be refitting housing, such as social landlords and local councils, with innovative suppliers so that they can work together on cost effective and low carbon solutions.

The competition will also create a pattern book and database of successful retrofit properties that will inform future activity.