Hunshelf Park



Custom build PassivHaus Housing development
This 10 house project has been developed with Our Green Homes, to create affordable homes that are to the highest standard of energy performance. The house format is flexible internally, allowing 2-5 bed homes to cater for a wide range of family needs.
Location: Stocksbridge
Client: Bentsfield Ltd
Planning: May 2017
Site: N/A
Completion: N/A
Energy consumption: 14 kWh/m2.a
Budget: £1 million
Greenbottom farm



A new build family home in the green belt
A new build in a large open field is a challenging, and all the restrictions of the site led to the house form being surrounded by stone boundary walls and shed-like forms rising out.
A generous home, upon entry a feature stair greets you and your eyes are drawn to the view through the home and out to the field. The house is open plan, and makes the most of the southerly sun by lifting the roof without losing too much heat through the north-facing glazing facing out to the views.
entrance hallway
mezzanine
living area
south-facing courtyard
Location: Barnsley
Client: Private
Planning: June 2017
Site: N/A
Completion: N/A
Gross internal floor area: 240 m2
Energy consumption: 15 kWh/m2.a
Budget: N/A
Footgate Close



Low energy house retrofit and extension
This is a proposal to take a typical compact mid 20th century semi-detached home and extend it to create a generous family home with dramatically reduced energy use.
The side extension steps back and down with a pair of slate clad slices and these are complimented by a full width timber extension to the rear.
Proposed Enerphit energy performance.
Location: Sheffield
Client: Private
Planning: May 2017
Site: N/A
Completion: N/A
Energy consumption: 25 kWh/m2.a
Budget: £150,000
thorncroft



New build house in the green belt
The new house replaces a large barn / shed structure that sits at the top of a steeply sloping site. The proposal takes the simple, single storey barn form and adapts it to the requirements of the brief and the form of the slender plateau on which it sits. The design incorporates a comfortable living/dining/kitchen area with a separate snug and three bedrooms. The long, slim plan takes full advantage of the great views to the south and ensures good winter solar gain, whilst the deep overhanging roof shelters the glazing from summer overheating and shelters the access route to the front door.
The house will be glad in dark timber with a sinusoidal steel roof. The interiors will be kept stripped back with polished screed floors, timber linings and exposed timber trusses.
As with all our projects, the Passivhaus design methodology is being adhered to and we will aim to achieve as close to Passivhaus as possible with the build, although the form factor will make this more challenging than usual.
development model
elevation
interior view
floor plan
Location: Lower Hague
Client: Private
Planning: Summer 2017
Site: N/A
Completion: N/A
Energy consumption: 15 kWh/m2.a
Budget: £225,000
the paddock



New build house in the green belt
This project is at a very early stage working with the client to develop a scheme for pre-application discussions with the planning authority. The main living spaces are conceived as a timber box that emerges from the ground and extends to cantilever over the garage plinth below.
The project is aiming to be off-grid in terms of energy and the starting point for this is the best possible building fabric, so we will be aiming for full passivhaus as the basis for a very sustainable building.
concept diagram
massing model
Location: Devon
Client: Private
Planning: Late 2017
Site: N/A
Completion: N/A
Energy consumption: 15 kWh/m2.a
Budget: N/A
stringer barn conversion



Green belt barn conversion
This residential barn conversion is in a green belt overlooking rolling hills in the distance. The expansive views are framed by large stone wall ‘fins’, which separate the spaces and on the exterior provide a robust plinth between which timber shutters slide to modify the internal environment and to provide additional security.
The interior spaces include a double height kitchen flowing into a living space with a hearth included in one of the stone wall fins. The locally sourced stone will keep to the character of the area, but the timber, sliding shutters and glass infill gives it a contemporary feel.
The retrofit is to Enerphit energy standard.
Location: Emley, West Yorkshire
Client: Private
Planning: 2016
Site: 2018
Completion: N/A
Energy consumption: 25 kWh/m2.a
Budget: £400,000
Hen House



Jo and Gail asked us to design them a warm, comfortable new-build home to downsize into in the steeply sloping garden of their existing house.
We carved a two storey dwelling into their difficult plot whilst maximising the amazing views to the West and avoiding numerous mature trees or overlooking their existing property.
Their new home is accessed on the upper level. Here we have created a spacious, light filled kitchen, living and dining space with fantastic views. This is clad in beautiful timber shingles which will soften with age and blend the house into its wooded surroundings.
The lower floor houses the bedrooms and support spaces in a solid, dark masonry plinth. The bedrooms feel snug and softly lit which contrasts well with the bright, spacious upper floor.
There had been four failed attempts to gain planning for the site previously. Our sensitively designed proposal was awarded planning on our first attempt.
We designed the house to be extremely warm and comfortable to live in whilst using very little energy compared to a typical new-build house.
We guided Jo and Gail throughout the process, helping them to choose the best contractor for the job and working with them to deliver a fantastic home to a high standard.
Location: Bradway, Sheffield
Client: Private
Contractor: Simplicity Construction
Planning: 2015
Site: May 2017
Completion: February 2018
Energy consumption: 27 kWh/m2.a
Construction Cost: £1975/m2
self build on a shoestring



Low cost self-build Passivhaus home competition entry
This was our entry for the National Self Build Associations’s self build on a shoestring competition; an innovative design for a three bedroom home can be self-built to the strict Passivhaus standard for under £45,000.
The house’s width makes the most of views to the garden and available sunlight, whilst carefully controlled openings create variety within a relatively compact form. The ground floor features a generous open-plan living/kitchen diner with large doors opening out onto a terrace.
The simple approach taken to construction means the house could be easily built with basic joinery skills either on or off-site. It also makes it easy to adapt to the individual self-builder’s needs or the regional context it sits within. The orientation could even be changed to fit a narrower plot or the local vernacular.
The design has been modelled to meet the most stringent of energy standards. However, renewable technology could be easily retrofitted or additional insulation added if required. It’s also important to understand that a passivhaus solution is a project and site specific one and any changes may change the calculated energy performance.
Our submission was selected as one of the final shortlist of 7 proposals. In the presentation at Grand Designs Live on the 5th October it was discussed along with the other schemes in a live presentation by Kevin McCloud, Charlie Luxton and Ted Stevens. It was described as “probably the most attractive entry” and as the most thoroughly researched and costed. Encouragingly it was one of 2 shortlisted schemes that achieved the Passivhaus standard. Unfortunately, it didn’t win. The top sixteen including the seven strong shortlist have been uploaded to the NaSBA website.
On the 29th October an informal event was held at Ash Sakula’s offices in London opening the short-listed schemes for further discussion. I couldn’t make it but Andy Thomas kindly presented my scheme. A video of the presentations has been posted on vimeo.
Document Downloads:
The Burrows



Earth-sheltered NPPF55 Passivhaus home in the green belt
The burrows is a new-build earth sheltered house. It’s not often you get the opportunity to build a house from scratch for a client so committed to good design and to class leading sustainability. Despite being a new, isolated dwelling in the green belt, paul testa architecture achieved planning approval for the proposal at first attempt in September 2012, making this the first Passivhaus to achieve planning in South Yorkshire. It was also one of the earliest NPPF paragraph 55 planning approvals in the country.
The design is very simple, with a linear progression along the linear, hilltop site. All of the habitable rooms have good southerly orientation to make the most of winter passive solar gain, but the windows and eaves are designed so as it minimise summer overheating. This combined with thermal mass, super-insulated building envelope, triple glazed windows and the thick grassed roof will make for an incredibly comfortable and healthy house in which to live.
A simple pallet of local stone, timber windows and infill panels, and zinc clad entrance and eaves will give the building a simple, elegant and understated aesthetic that will sit well in it’s landscape.
Location: Sheffield
Client: Private
Planning: 2012
Site: 2015
Completion: 2019
Gross internal floor area: 180m2
Energy consumption: 14 kWh/m2.a
Budget: £250,000