Case study detail
Camden Eco-home
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Sustainable Development Commission
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A private semi-detached Victorian house situated in a conservation area. It operates as an example of heritage and energy conservation measures brought together: whilst retaining the building’s details and character, its refurbishment has reduced total carbon emissions from the house by 60% and realised considerable water savings.
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Overview
A large part of the UK existing housing stock has been built before 1919. The energy performance of those old buildings is generally well below an acceptable SAP value, and most of them undoubtedly require serious rehabilitation if the UK is to meet its 2050 target of a 60% reduction in carbon emissions.
However, much of this stock has an historical value and is greatly protected by heritage conservation orders, which have prevented so far the adoption of any significant rehabilitation programme on such types of buildings, resulting sometimes in a tension between architectural heritage conservation and energy efficiency measures.
73 Chester road, a semi-detached Victorian House located in Camden borough, is a recently completed exemplar of how heritage and energy conservation measures can be brought together. Whilst they have maintained period details -both externally and indoors-, the home owners Sarah Harrison and David Drake have indeed completely refurbished their home and reduced its CO2 emissions by 60%. They received grants under the Camden Council’s Eco-Grant and Warmth for All schemes, and the government’s Low Carbon Emissions scheme.
The owners felt Victorian houses were fantastically good to live in, solid, situated in dense neighbourhoods and with nice features and garden access. Whilst trying to preserve the house’s Victorian character, the owners looked at the building’s fabric and the air movement it induced to determine what refurbishment measures would help them the most to reduce their overall energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
Another objective of the project was to keep the refurbishment within reasonable budget limits and make the final result as inconspicuous as possible to set a both replicable and aspirational example of eco-refurbishment in a conservation area.
Insulation:
Walls: The external walls have been internally insulated with 100 mm expanded wood fibreboards, and their cornices have been replaced or remade.
Insulation has been installed so that the whole house is wrapped up in it from the inside and cold bridges are minimised. Specific care has been taken along the ceiling edges, around corners and at the base of walls.
Roof: The roof needed to be replaced completely, and the attic room has had a rear dormer window added. The owners took the opportunity to fully insulate the new roof.
Plasterboards were fixed before rockwool was put between the roof joists, and the whole fittings were finally covered with two layers of expanded wood fibreboards.
The first layer is made of plain wood fibreboards, but the second layer contains a small percentage of latex that allows the board to shed water and so plays the role of a waterproof membrane. An air gap was kept between the wood fibre and the tiles to allows necessary airflows.
Floor: The original Victorian tiles in the hallway have been preserved, but the rest of the ground floor was taken up to install insulation underneath.
Wood fibre boards were fixed to the joists and the spaces between the joists filled with rockwool and then covered with a new oak floor from sustainable sources. The breathability of the natural materials helps ventilate the house. The old floor was re-used for the attic beneath the new dormer window.
The attic floor is acoustically insulated with rubber strips, a layer of rockwool and a carpet. The kitchen and the toilet floors are tiled.
Windows: On the main elevation, original windows have been overhauled, double glazed and draught stripped in order to improve insulation without impairing the appearance of the building.
At the back, most windows have been replaced with well-sealed high performance low-e argon-filled double glazed unit.
Air tightness: All cracks were sealed and the whole house pressure tested. It performed better than the new-build home standard.
Heating:
The house’s heating system uses a very efficient condensing gas boiler. The boiler controls allow the owners to manage internal temperature according to their needs, while flat solar water heating panels have been installed on the rear extension roof to complement the boiler and supply hot water during the sunny months of the year. A small photovoltaic array on the side of the flat panels provides electricity to run the circulating pump.
Water pipes have been insulated too to minimise heat losses and increase the system’s efficiency.
Ventilation:
As the house had considerable problems of condensation, a specific attention had to be paid to ventilation to avoid damp once the insulation was completed. The former underfloor ventilation system has been kept: it runs from under the rear garden’s door to the underneath of the floor of the living-room, allowing air to circulate.
The conventional extractor fan in the bathroom has been replaced with an heat-recovery fitting. Equipped with a heat-exchanger, it extracts the heat from the outgoing air and use it to warm the incoming cold air.
Alongside those ventilation systems, the breathability of the wood fibre insulation and of the external walls’ clay plasters also maintain air circulation in the house.
Water:
Toilets have been fitted with a 2/4 litres flush, and further water savings come from the collection of rain water and the diversion of grey water to water the garden.
2 butts were installed at the front and a bigger butt was placed in the rear garden. When the rain is scarce, in summer for instance, a home-designed system allows the manual diversion of grey water to the garden.
Lighting:
A new light pipe and roof light provide improved natural light to the hallway and the staircase, and low energy lights and appliances are also fitted.
Monitoring:
The house is currently monitored on a monthly basis to compare real in-use performance with the model’s projections. The homeowners are keen to use their findings to help others achieve what they have done.
Contact:
Sarah Harrison
73 Chester Road,
Camden, London,
N19 5DH
E-mail: sarah@eco-refurbishment.co.uk
Key features
energy
materials
regeneration
water
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