Green and Pleasant Plans

In these eco-conscious times, designers will benefit from improving their environmental awareness. In the second of two features, three specialists share their tips for sustainable design

By 2016, all new homes will have to be zero carbon and building regulations are tightening to ensure energy and water efficiency are improved and carbon emissions reduced in the UK’s housing stock. These changes are already creating new business opportunities for design professionals as products and services are launched, old houses are upgraded and new homes are built.

But huge challenges remain for architects and interior designers. As well as needing to keep track of new regulations and product development, the changes require upskilling in environmentally responsible design. Then there’s knowing where to source environmentally friendly products — separating the genuine from the ‘greenwash’ can prove tricky. How to incorporate sustainable products and systems into homes is another issue. This is particularly true of retrofit projects, where properties are either listed or have historic features that the owner wants to retain. In all cases, clients have to be briefed about the choices they face and compromises then have to be reached, if not on the level of efficiency then on the esthetic appeal of the end product.

Here we talk to three design companies that have put sustainability at the heart of what they do and have sought various ways to address these challenges.

Heath Design

Designer,writer and TV presenter Oliver Heath set up Heath Design in 2005 to create beautiful designs with minimum impact on the environment. ‘Sustainability has grabbed hold of architecture but its impact is much smaller on the interior designer,’ he says.

Heath’s interest in sustainable design stretches back to 1998,when he set up his first design practice, Blustin Heath Design. His latest book, Urban Eco Chic, promotes the balance of technology, nature and vintage to create functional, sustainable dwellings that are also beautiful and aspirational homes. ‘I have plenty of books on my shelf about how to make a “box” more efficient but not about the psychology behind sustainable homes,’ he comments.

Heath may be at the cutting edge of sustainable design but he relies on a number of sources to keep him informed and inspired. ‘I talk to BRE [the Building Research Establishment], the Energy Saving Trust and Wrap [theWaste and Resources Action Programme] on a regular basis’, he says.

He also gets ideas from magazines and the architectural journals and attends shows, such as 100% Design.

When it comes to sourcing products, there is one place he cannot praise highly enough. ‘Advisory company Scin is a brilliant resource for designers and it’s increasingly being asked to find sustainable materials,’ he says. Heath points out that for all the interest in sustainable design, it is still very much a developing market that cannot yet compete with the traditional ways of designing and refurbishing: ‘We have to bear that in mind. So prices are higher and there is less choice.’

Heath is also aware of the compromises we will have to make if we are going to embrace more sustainable homes. He’s just given his own 1960s home in Brighton a green makeover,which took a year of planning and six months to build, cost £100,000 and yet only marginally increased the usable space.

‘A lot of designers are keen to promote sustainable architecture in buildings and the clients seem to want it but it’s quickly ruled out when they want more space,’ he says. ‘We took out all the windows, heating, electrics and floors, had the walls insulated and sealed whole joints. I increased the usable space by converting my garage into a kitchen but I spent most of the money making my home a better space within the existing footprint.’

Living In Space

A ‘one-stop-shop’ for those looking for an initial concept right through to completion, London-based Living In Space has positioned itself squarely in the eco design bracket. The practice is underpinned by a ‘green living’ philosophy that includes sourcing its own electricity from renewable sources. It has even built up a library of eco-friendly products and services, ranging from sustainably sourced furniture to renewable energy installations.

Director Ryan Kohn,who joined Living In Space three years ago after working in property development, is the driving force behind the company’s green design redentials. He says it’s not only important to keep abreast of latest green building developments and regulations, but to keep up with the latest products and trends by reading and networking — and not just within the design and building sectors.

‘We go to [informal networking event] Green Drinks once a month,’ he says. ‘It is always good to cross over with other industries because of the work we do in people’s homes,’ says Kohn.

Kohn has no formal training in environmentally sustainable design but has gained his knowledge from books,magazines, websites and seminars,making it his business to find out what there is to know.

For anything to do with building regulations, he goes straight to the government’s Planning Portal. For more general literature on sustainable building, he recommends Zed Factory’s Zed Book and The Green Guide. For places to go, he suggests BRE and the Energy Saving Trust but he also recommends trade shows and says there is no better place to start than at London’s Ecobuild, the largest sustainable built environment exhibition in Europe.

For good all-round information, Kohn suggests joining the UK Green Building Council. ‘You pay a subscription but its 100 per cent worthwhile. It does very good work on sustainability in the home. It has stands at trade shows, seminars and offers training. It’s the best we’ve got in the UK,’ he says.

The biggest difficulty with being green, according to Kohn, is establishing what it really means. ‘That word “green” has a broad meaning,’ he says. ‘How green is green? How green do clients want their homes to be? And how green is green in terms of suppliers?’

Living In Space has attempted to clarify some of these issues by developing a Sustainable Refurbishment Report.Much more detailed than an Energy Performance Certificate, this 40-page document evaluates the existing energy of the home and how to improve on it. ‘It goes through the options, such as insulation, triple glazing and renewable energy and provides a costing, sets out how much CO2 will be saved and states the payback period,’ explains Kohn.

The process enables Living In Space to devise bespoke solutions to individual sustainable design problems,which in the case of a listed building is an absolute must, says Kohn. ‘You need to be very sensitive. There are many conservation areas and I would recommend getting in listed specialists if you are dealing with a listed building because you could be prosecuted,’ he explains.

When refurbishing a grade II listed, five-bedroom house in Hampstead, Living In Space had to redesign the conservatory to enable the roof to carry solar PV panels.

Another problem with green design, according to Kohn, is the choice of sustainable products on offer — and nowhere does he see this more than at the high end of sustainable furniture products. ‘Some companies, such as David Edwards, are making strides but there is still a lack of really high-end pieces that are sustainable.’

Kohn says suppliers are missing a trick here. ‘Now it’s a great story but in 20 years’ time, everyone will be doing it,’ he says.

HPW

Established in 1986 from offices in Southampton, HPWoperates in the commercial and residential sector, providing industry-leading sustainable architecture and interior design.

Creative director GaryWilburn has just completed an Msc in sustainable building performance and design at Oxford Brookes University. He believes formal training is going to be required not just at the professional level but at all levels of the construction industry in order to future-proof UK homes and businesses. ‘We need to educate everyone from the architect and designer to those laying the bricks and digging the trenches. It’s going to require a massive effort and commitment,’ he says.

As well as investing in their own education, though, he believes the design professionals also need to be willing to share information with one another.Wilburn is the chairman of the Sustainable Construction Network for Hampshire and the Isle ofWight. The network keeps him updated on the latest building regulations and sustainable developments but it also demands an open-minded approach to networking. ‘We collaborate and choose to share information,’Wilburn says. ‘It’s very easy to be nervous about sharing learning but if we want to be exemplary we need to share our information.’

For inspiration on product development, Wilburn recommends lots of travelling — preferably overseas. ‘You need to attend exhibitions and travel to the continent,’ he insists.When it comes to renewable energy systems,Wilburn believes we have a lot to learn from Germany,Austria and Switzerland. To see good examples of the Passivhaus construction standard for buildings, he recommends visiting Holland and Belgium, while Sweden’s Hammarby, a district south of Stockholm that houses 20,000 people completely self-sustainably, he describes as ‘a must see’.

Closer to home,Wilburn recommends the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) near Machynlleth in northWales and the Ecobuild exhibition in London, although he warns the latter has been ‘flooded’ with products that are merely ‘greenwash’.

When it comes to sourcing sustainable products,Wilburn says building merchants such as Jewsons and Bradfords are making strides but adds that the choice is ‘nowhere near as good as it could be and you need to search hard for products that aren’t run of the mill’ and that are truly sustainable.

‘These products are just like any commodity so suppliers will “expand” the truth to make them more appealing and most architects don’t have time to check,’ he says.

The Green Guide does offer help in this area butWilburn says it’s a case of building up a trusted network of suppliers that offer unusual and innovative products, from rammed- earth materials to insulation and green roofing.

HPW’s own network of suppliers has served it well on sustainable projects. The company recently refurbished a 46m2 York stone barn conversion near Harrogate in North Yorkshire.After carrying out dynamic thermal modelling of the building, HPW recommended super-insulating the stone property using an internal 10m-thick ‘multifoil’ plasterboard — a material developed by NASA — to meet the space limitations of the family home. Under-floor heating powered by a ground source heat pump was designed to replace an antiquated central-heating system powered by oil.

Wilburn describes the refurbishment as a ‘thermal delight’. He is keen to point out that reducing a building’s energy requirement should be the starting point of any sustainable building design. ‘Super-insulate the building first then think about renewable energy systems,’ he says. But he also warns that adopting a generic approach to sustainable design is ‘enormously dangerous. There is no single solution, everything has to be site specific.’



This article was first published in idfx Magazine.








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