Potter & Holmes has built one of the first 'Carbon Zero' houses in the country.
Potter & Holmes designed this new build house to have the twin brief requirement of being both an environmentally friendly Carbon Zero House and fully wheelchair accessible for the clients - a sustainability manager for a large Housing Association and a wheelchair user access consultant.
The energy saving measures have been achieved through:
- Extremely high levels of insulation to structure and joinery
- Low thermal mass
- Low window areas except to the south to maximise passive solar gain
- High levels of air tightness
- Whole house heat recovery
- Low energy lighting throughout
And the following renewable energy provisions achieve the 'Carbon Zero' balance:
- Solar thermal for hot water
- Log burning stoves from wood sourced from the site for heating and hot water provision in winter
- Photovoltaic to balance electricity consumption
'Environmentally friendly' aspects include:
- Prefabricated timber frame with 'I' beams to walls & roof
- Recycled newspaper insulation
- Lime/recycled glass screed
- Linoleum flooring to ground floor
- Hardwood flooring to first floor
- Organic paints
- Grey water re-use
