Tuesday 14 May 2013

A rated EPC


We have recently been reminded of the A grade EPC rating achieved on our Porters project, a stunning result. The report continues with an assessment on the tonnes of CO2 emitted to run the house - in particular:

'The average household causes about 6 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. Based on this assessment, your home currently produces approximately -0.8 tonnes of carbon each year.'

If a retired couple along with Touchwood's build method can create a home which is carbon negative (as stated on the EPC's spurious definition of carbon), then the UK building industry has no technical excuse to not do the same! There is no need for the housing minister to create a panel of experts to decide how to build this way, Passivhaus has the answers.

Wednesday 1 May 2013

Howe Park passivhaus wins Green Apple Award

Howe Park passivhaus has won the Green Apple Award - the home featured on our gallery page ( http://www.touchwoodhomes.co.uk/gallery.html#Howe ) was designed and erected by Touchwood Homes - our airtight build method and detailing resulting in a superb air test result of 0.09. This air tight build method combined with our extremely high levels of dense insulation were critical components to the project achieving passivhaus certification. We are proud to have our timber frame build method used on this project by Eco Design Consultants, and main contractor Parkway Construction.



This news article released by the passivhaus trust :

PHT member's EcoDesign Consutants have won a Green Apple Environment Award for Howe Park Passive House in the national campaign to find Britain's greenest companies and products.
The Green Apple Environment Awards were established in 1994 as an annual campaign to recognise, reward and promote environmental best practice around the world. Previous Green Apple Award winners have gone on to win European awards, and many have taken on the status of International Green Ambassadors by helping others around the world to help the environment.
EcoDesign Consultants competed against more than 200 other nominations in the Green Apple Awards for the Built Environment & Architectural Heritage, and will be presented with an award at a ceremony in the National Self Build & Renovation Centre on June 24. The trophy and certificate will be presented by Doreen Lawrence, campaigning mother of murder victim Stephen Lawrence.