When we bought our house at No 10 some 25 years ago there was a lawn at the side, beyond which lay No 14. There was an application in for planning permission for a new house which we did not pursue but we always intended to built a place for us to retire to when the house and garden became too big to manage.
About a year ago we came to the realization that that time had come. We had a pretty good idea of what we wanted and prepared a brief for the architect, a low energy home-for-life - smaller, with a more manageable garden, cheap to run, ecologically sound and designed to enable us to stay there as long as possible as we become older and frailer.
We appointed Phil Bixby of Constructive Individuals, a specialist in self-build and low-energy homes that Peter had worked within the past and probably the only local architect able to build us a 'Passivhaus'.
A Passivhaus is very highly insulated with triple glazing but in particular is sealed tight with the fresh air brought in through a sophisticated heat exchange system. This means the house can be warmed simply by the heat generated from appliances and human activity - so if it get's chilly, throw a party. In addition we have solar panels to meet our hot water and electricity needs with enough left over to sell some to the National Grid. So this is what Phil came up with -
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About a year ago we came to the realization that that time had come. We had a pretty good idea of what we wanted and prepared a brief for the architect, a low energy home-for-life - smaller, with a more manageable garden, cheap to run, ecologically sound and designed to enable us to stay there as long as possible as we become older and frailer.
We appointed Phil Bixby of Constructive Individuals, a specialist in self-build and low-energy homes that Peter had worked within the past and probably the only local architect able to build us a 'Passivhaus'.
A Passivhaus is very highly insulated with triple glazing but in particular is sealed tight with the fresh air brought in through a sophisticated heat exchange system. This means the house can be warmed simply by the heat generated from appliances and human activity - so if it get's chilly, throw a party. In addition we have solar panels to meet our hot water and electricity needs with enough left over to sell some to the National Grid. So this is what Phil came up with -
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