Barratt starts work on mainstream green house

Construction begins this week on the first home by a mainstream housebuilder which is so environmentally friendly that it would meet the criteria for zero stamp duty. The tax incentive to build ‘greener’ homes was announced in the last Budget by the then Chancellor and was introduced at the beginning of October. The Barratt ‘Green House’, designed by architects Gaunt Francis, is situated on the BRE Innovation Park at Watford.

The zero carbon house will meet the highest level six of the Government’s Code for Sustainable Homes and will be the subject of rigorous scientific testing over a two year period to assess every aspect of the design, construction and materials.

Barratt plans to take the most successful aspects of the design and apply them to houses that it builds in future. Innovative eco-friendly features of the house include:

- Aircrete concrete wall panels and pre-cast concrete floor slabs – heavyweight concrete construction achieves high thermal mass which mitigates peaks and troughs of temperature change within the house.
- An Air Source Heat Pump converts the energy of air from indoors or outdoors into heat supplying the internal needs of the house.
- Clothes drying is achieved at the head of the stairs using warm air rising through the house.
- Hot water to be supplied by a solar hot water panel on the roof which is connected to the central storage unit.
- Automatic window shutters controlled by the occupier system will help prevent over-heating of the house during the summer.
- PhotoVoltaic panels on the south-facing roof and the adjacent building will simulate a district power supply (it is more efficient to power 20 homes than one).
- A ‘rainwater harvesting’ system used to provide water to flush the lavatories.
- Thanks to these features, the house will have no need of standard household appliances such as a tumble drier or radiators.

The award-winning design, which was voted for by more than 22,000 readers in the British Homes Awards, has undergone some modifications in an extensive collaboration being led by the National Centre for Excellence in Housing (National Centre).

The ‘Green House’ will now exceed the eco-requirements originally stipulated.

The ‘Green House’ forms an integral part of the research programme which the Housing Minister Yvette Cooper has asked the National Centre to co-ordinate to help the house building industry achieve zero carbon in all new starts by 2016.

Mark Clare, CEO of Barratt Developments PLC, said: “If the UK is to move to zero carbon new housing, we have to rapidly establish what works best for the consumer and the environment. The most exciting aspect of the Barratt ‘Green House’ is that it’s not designed as a one off: we will take what works and apply it to housebuilding across the country.”

“Barratt completely supports the Government’s objective for all new homes to be zero carbon by 2016. We want to make as big a contribution as we can – as quickly as we can.”

Anna Scothern, Director of the National Centre, said: “We are very excited about how the Barratt Green House project is coming together.”

“A hugely experienced team bringing together the combined expertise of Barratt Homes, BRE, Arup, Gaunt Francis and the National Centre have been working to ensure the project meets the zero carbon targets while remaining as close as possible to the award winning design to produce a prototype that is best able to meet the demands of volume building in the future.”

The ‘Green House’ will be completed in early 2008.

For further information visit Barratthomes.co.uk.