Back to the barns!

Or would not tents be
the cheaper alternative?

Daily Mail: The Grand Designs house for first time buyers:
How you can get on the property ladder with a £41,000
three bedroom home

 Daily Mail

I know, Mr Neo and Mrs Lib are governing us. Clever is he who rips off his counterpart the best while best is calculated in buckets of Sterling, bags of Euro or piles of Greenbacks in our days and counterparts are regularly called customers, clients, often idiots and stupid.

I respect Kevin McCloud; he, his Grand Design programme has become a brand name, is the one who is trying to demonstrate that there are many different ways to build your home and dwell in a spectacular one-off or an ambitious dream home.

It is he who shows the nation that there is this opportunity of a self-build market against all the construction industry’s hard trial to channel the majority of all house buyers towards its shelves; readily available new builds, built while cutting all possible corners to reinforce margins, often part of soon-to-look-like-slums sleeping estates, where estate is too grand a word; one or two metre distance between the houses, bedroom three, four and possibly five being wardrobe-sized, the two designs, three colours, four shapes and five layouts so similar that I would need to raise a bespoke flag to find the one my family lived in cooped up in between cheapest wooden fences.

The industry claims UK house buyers would not want anything else but what it makes available; I doubt that.

But I also doubt that Kevin McCloud should use his name and brand for the described farmyard type barns; those poor and pity constructions are definitely not what we should aim for:

'We set ourselves the challenge of getting under the magic £50,000 and making sure that what came out the other side would be something we'd really want to live in, be really beautiful and not just more shoe boxes.'

The Barnhaus steel frame is lined internally with lots of insulation - straw bales being most cost effective - and doors and windows are added at either end.

Beautiful? ... not a shoebox? Give me a break!

 Daily Mail

Straw bales being most cost effective ... compared to what? To avoiding any need for any insulation or to living in a cave? Of all materials straw is probably one of the most complicated to deal with in reference to λ- and U-values, durability, fire resistance, etc. pp. Cost effective bales?! Another break, please.

I would have thought we finally have arrived at a point where designing, constructing and delivering any home would at least touch the subject of energy efficiency, durability, comfort and health? The article takes long and rather funny detours to avoid such basics:

Architect Ed Green came up with the award-winning design which gives buyers the 'skeleton' of a house, and allows them to adapt the original framework to their taste
....
The home, which is bigger than many modern new-build houses, will give first-time buyers the chance to build their own 'Grand Designs' home at a fraction of the cost.

Typically first homes under £90,000 will get a much smaller space to a 'substandard design', the winning architect claimed.

Is this some kind of April fools' joke? A substandard design replaced with a farmyard barn box? But it gets even better:

Pretty much the whole house could be built by a relatively unskilled person - except for the electrics.

Well, there is the real difference to the normal construction industry's approach; while it also uses relatively unskilled persons but charges an arm and a leg the self-barn-builder can build and finish his barn without going into any great detail, not to mention know-how, as to plumbing, heating, ventilation, tiling, windows, roof and foundation, thermal bridging, U-values, air changes and what not! Progress! Superb? The remains of British construction industry should turn pale.

Would climbing the property ladder starting from a substandard designed and built farmyard barn really work?

'And you can go on eBay and buy a steel barn frame the size of a family home for around £2,500.

Good luck, this is the next best solution to living in a tent; but then may be living in a cave would make more sense! It would definitely be more cost effective.

Carpe diem!

Topping out!

...in Dundee!

The nicest tree we had so far for a topping out

in Scotland thanks to Total Build Team Ltd.!

 

Translated from an ancient German topping out saying;

may be dated, but then not outdated:

If this house will stand and stay
until all the envy and hatred passes,
then – indeed – it will remain
until the world has fallen to ashes!

Malice, enemies, grief and sorrow
shall evade your door!
Joy, happiness, bliss and glee
shall find the same and ever more!

This house shall grant
refuge and home in glory and honor
to those, who dreamt it true!
Their verdict shall be:
"Lord, protect our home
 and give us your blessing, too! "

God,
protect this house from danger at all times,
charm and shield his master's family,
may it stand safe and sound, year by year and keep all worries out, thankfully.

This green tree shall be symbol
for our client's felicity
which shall dwell in this house
from now on to eternity.

Lord,
hold onto this house,
until a snail walked off its knees,
until an ant starved long and hard
for it to empty all the seas.
 

This drink to this house I dedicate
for it to stand and celebrate!

  

 

The snail is now on its way, the seas are rather rising and the HANSE HAUS house in Dundee will be finished by Christmas!

Thank you all visitors, friends, neighbours, maybe and hope-to-be customers and all helpers for making it a memorable day.

Carpe diem!

Stop beating arround the bush!

We need action and progress!
No diluting and digressing!

This telegraph article on "The low-cost family house of the future" is a prime example of the hot air our society and precisely lobbies of all kinds of industries are producing, obviously trying to avoid progress threatening established margins by all means.

The article is all about low-cost and low-energy but it avoids the slightest, in fact any reference to real numbers; as such those terms remain as accurate as the coordinates of cloud-cuckoo-land, obviously just another exercise to fill the paper and irritating the public.

Cost in relation to home building regularly comes as £ per square metre [£/m²] and low-energy refers to gobbledygook unless you define the energy consumption; internationally that is done in kiloWatt per square metre and year [kW/m²a].

There is, oh wonder oh Telegraph, an international Standard, supra-nationally now accepted in many countries, from Japan to the US, from Norway to South Africa, in Australia and in South America: it is called Passive House Standard; it defines the maximum energy consumption to be no more than 15 kW/m²a* for the space heating demand. To get there it needs a thorough calculation taking many different factors into account not only the construction's location and orientation but also all materials', all components' and all appliances' energy efficiencies; the software developed to do exactly that is called PHPP, the Passive House Planning Package.

Solar gain and lunar loss, air-changes per hour [ach], air tightness, U-values, thermal conductivity, thermal bridging, psi-values, efficiency values those are the modern parameters to take into account. Quite a difference to living in caves or cavity-cold homes.

 

So it is time to stop producing hot air, time to end this useless inventing British complicated but diluted standards that no enduser will be able to understand (> CoSH); no need to invent any more British wheels again and again; what is needed is for all members of the British construction industry, from the bosses down, to (want to) understand that it is high time to apply this existing and proven knowledge extensively, now!

It would also end rubbish like ...

There were also technical issues for the Simonsens. The ventilation system broke down on a Friday night, and an engineer had to be called out to fix the problem. The technology in the Kettering house is similarly daunting with a plant room filled with pipes and tanks. Nik says if it goes wrong: “I have a number to call.”

What shall sound so dangerous describing a dramatic high-tech problem like The ventilation system broke down... can be no more than one ventilator that probably had no more power supplied and that similarly daunting with a plant room filled with pipes and tanks by implication just avoids the dirty chaos in British homes with pipes and pumps, tanks and meters dumped into dark and poky cupboards, an almost inaccessible attic or into so desperate needed bathroom or kitchen cabinets guaranteed avoiding proper access for maintenance or repair.

And cost? From experience it can be done for around £1,500 per square metre, Passive House Standard, turnkey - now, to compare like with like one should know what turnkey really comprises! And make sure that both products, turnkey homes, built to PH Standard, hence comparable in energy consumption! Plus, make sure that both homes are heated to the same levels, i.e. 21° in all rooms, but 19°C in the bedrooms. I know, complicated, but I said like with like! And efficiency does not come with throwing the dice!

Here is one pretty good wall... (not a PH wall) but a wall is just one element of the complex calculation, anyway.

Carpe diem!

* one litre of heating oil equates to 10.7kW, so your 150m² 5-bedroom house should not use more than the equivalent energy of 210 litres of heating oil per year or roughly £13 a month to keep a temperature of 21°C throughout the house (bedrooms 19°C). Now you compare!

Passive Passion...

... a summary of what is PassivHaus

 

Passive Passion trailer from Charlie Hoxie on Vimeo.

You can watch the full video here.

Carpe diem!

CPHC, not certified...

but qualified!

Even if you live in this country for ten years now, you speak and understand the language fairly well, you are still not immune from being laughed at and from people with a question mark plus at least two exclamation marks in their eyes while they are congesting what you just said.

So happened when I explained to a friend (lucky me?) that I now was certified.

Mind you, for a one-dimensional German brain it is not really easy to understand that you hold your hard-earned Certificate in your hand but then you should not declare yourself certified. 

The German translation of "to certify" does not offer any hint that this could mean anything other than what one has learned in school and only way further down it mentions certified sick as something like krankgeschrieben, i.e. signed off ill which for my understanding is still far from the British imagination seeing the men in white jackets arrive taking away what my gom*-friend would call a certifiable, anyway!

Carpe diem!

p.s. In case you find or found any other similar two and three dimensional bemusement in these pages please, please let me know and save me from having to go through all this for another ten years!

* grumpy old man!

PH for Standard!

passiv(e) but fast...

A HH PH (HANSE HAUS PassivHaus) going up...

An interesting article to read.

Call for Passivhaus standard to beat fuel poverty and climate change


And here a wee reminder...

Carpe diem!

the not so passive conference

on PassivHaus Standard and Methodology

organised by

  

and                 

Monday and Tuesday this week saw us participating in the third annual UK PassivHaus Conference in London. While it was held at what one must define as the most extreme opposite of a PassivHaus, The Barbican Conference Centre, the event and discussions per se offered lots of food for thought:

The logo of the Passiv Haus Institute
its website offers some challenges

Fabric first

It now seems to have become the general understanding that it makes more sense to design and thoroughly calculate a building's envelope to the possible highest specs, first and then think about how to provide what and, more importantly, how little energy will be needed to run it. In simple terms, before we think about building new power stations we should try to follow ways of not wasting energy.

The Barbican per se and the conference's presentations offered the chance to understand how to do better, much better and why we must learn from tradition and the mistakes we made in order to secure our future.

MVHR

Amazing how much time was spent questioning air quality provided by mechanical ventilation including heat recovery systems (MVHR) and/or the dubious threat to possibly die in an air tight house caused by lack of oxygen - well, may be I am exaggerating that last bit; but just a wee bit.

a simple schematic

Apart from the fact that traditional houses and those built to PH Standards do have in common that windows and believe it or not even doors are openable, why would fresh air through an open window be any cleaner or healthier than air mechanically filtered entering the same building in controlled volumes through purpose build ducts?

I should add that in my first house, a glazier's refurbished old workshop, I had an early version of an automated ventilation system including heat recovery installed in 1983. It was a French system and in order to follow that stupid routine of not liking what the French and/or Germans and/or English, always vice versa, do come up with (see further down) I should confess: even though it was French it worked fine.

Why did I install it then? Well, if you refurbish an old house and try to make it air tight in order to keep the warmth in - yes, we did discuss and try this in 1983 already - it makes perfect sense to swap moisture and used air for pre-warmed fresh air. Sorry, but that's basically S1 Physics, isn't it?

In S2, maybe, air tightness might be discussed, which mentioned in connection with selling a house might shrug innocent people off; so one of the presenters tried to replace the term by using draft-free environment; fine, however by definition air tightness includes draft freeness, while vice versa it is not the case. Hence, a more positive term remains to be found, but then we should hurry, please, as the customers might overtake the crawling process of inventing new descriptions for old realities.

Appropos Germany

It seems to be a hard nut for many to get over the fact that this PassivHaus Standard could have something to do with Germany, with those Germans. It is a fact, and as I had to live with it I know what I am writing about, that the German Government(s) were among the first, if not the first, to not only realise that energy might become a challenging issue but they have for very nearly thirty years consequently and constantly implemented ever tougher laws and bylaws of how to make constructions and appliances more energy efficient. No wonder the "others" now have to chew on the fact that most working and price worthy solutions, in this case for PH related products, components and technologies are offered by German companies. It is that simple.

By the way, listening to the cramped and constrained efforts of all officials trying to avoid any German ties with all kinds of PassivHaus issues was very close to being offensive; not so much in my eyes as a German living in the UK for a decade, now, I am used to such rubbish especially of those who at the same time indeed own Audis or a German kitchen, etc., but much more so in the heads and translations of German speaking visitors from the Continent. Britain allegedly stands for non discrimination acts and blames others of not sticking to the rules; well, here we are!

UK supply chain

One could say in a globalised world where most if not all of our daily consumer products are produced where they are made the cheapest, sometimes the most efficient, often the "dirtiest" way, this subject of an UK supply chain for PH components could not be of any relevance: may the best, i.e. the best working solution and value for money win.

Not so in this case: with generalised reference to import and transport cost the request for an UK supply chain for PH components e.g. windows is constantly mentioned, most probably by the same people that drive an Audi, a Mercedes, BMW or Toyota and buy Chinese toys, PCs and shoes! I will come back to the industry of automobiles further down.

Meanwhile, think about this: forget the advance in understanding the PH Standard and the advance in know how, training and experience from long years of actual application, it is a fact, the Continental market is huge. Most probably, the window manufacturers in question produce and deliver thousands of windows a day, mostly to very high specs, much higher than the average UK window, and on top of this they manufacture a  smaller, yet comparably substantial number to PH standards. Don't forget: in addition their means of production are high tech manufacturing robots which represent heavy long term investment, the companies' purchase power for raw materials is gigantic, per unit margins are kept to a minimum and transport to and from their facilities are their daily bread covering the Continent from Portugal to Russia and from Italy to Norway.

Now, who would think that any UK supplier can just pick up here and be competitive in a wee UK market that is still discussing the possible disadvantages of e.g. MVHR? Or whether or not recycling and waste water management should be part of the building regulations. I think that should be common sense and should not be used to dilute energy efficiency of any building envelope.

So that successful launch of that part of the UK supply chain remains to be seen. It seems a bit unlikely, as a true Scot would put it; I say, it is economically impossible: either the price or the windows' quality and variety will have to suffer unless protectionism or currency related influences would run the show

In this blog I often refer to China: I do not bash China, I might criticise China, but mainly I adore China for its flexibility, its will to succeed and for always doing their homework. But then, China very much frightens me; many could not care less, which frightens me even more.

Now, imagine China had felt it was too proud to just produce and copy what the market needed or wanted and then too proud to use the much better machinery and tools that they were often even given for free but then soon were able to import upon their own decision. Where would China be today?

No! I believe, the tactic should be quite the other way round. Get what is best value for money, wherever it comes from, learn, understand, teach, use, copy, adopt, adapt and improve! Like Fabric first, we should make a market for the most appropriate Standard: that is the way forward for any industry while the customer will be very grateful.

Customer

This species felt almost like not existing over those two days; from my personnel experience over the last five years attending shows and conferences all over the UK the customer has changed.

They have learned, they google two words and are flooded with information, they travel, they visit, they discuss, they all feel energy costs closing in on them, but in the end they also might drive a ... as I said, I will come back to that.

Real estate markets have changed; the idea that one's dwelling is a lucrative short term investment to climb up a money making ladder has become a very difficult one. While land to build on might be of pretty reliable value, a house that costs a fortune to run proves itself an unaffordable and unwanted burden. Driven to the extreme this could end up to where one will have to sell a house for its land's value minus demolishing and recycling cost. Think about that!

No, I did not leave the red line; a house build to PH Standard, certified, is futureproof. It will hardly loose its value as the standard sets a clear energy consumption figure: 15kW/m2a or even less. So anybody interested in one will know exactly what kind of quality he will get and what it will cost him year by year to come.

Futureproof Asset

With defining energy consumption levels, materials, technologies and tradesmanship are becoming part of this definition. One won't go without the other. Hence, the overall quality including life expectancy and durability are improved; indeed this is setting new standards were the customer or client will be able to compare like with like on the basis of a set energy consumption figure. King customer will love that. And really, once the mortgage companies will be prepared and willing to understand those differences they will finance traditional builds with a surcharge, only. 

miscellaneous

It was also very interesting to learn that there are differences in the door-blower test routines of the UK and Continental procedures; I will look into this much closer. I know from experience that we all need to be sceptical when confronted with too-good-to-be-true U-value calculations; whatever you compare, values, technologies or procedures, only, it should have a common base otherwise any discussion is a waste of time or simply humbug.

Automobile Industry

My first car was a 1967 MG B, spoke wheels, leather, chrome; then we loved British cars, the variety, the design, everything. German cars were boring, looked old and ugly.

What is left of that famous British car industry? Some brand names, now put on Indian, Chinese and again, I beg your pardon, German companies' makes - the rest is history. The industry did not follow what the market, the customers wanted and/or needed, it avoided investments for the sake of short-term share-holder values and called for the government when it failed.

Today the leading car manufacturers are either Asian or German manufactures. There is a severe chance that the British Construction Industry will be following the British Automobile Industry. Trying to protect one's market share by aiming at suppressing competition and innovation and neglecting customers' demands is a certain recipe for disaster.

By the way

when I don't blog, eat or sleep I work with HANSE HAUS (UK), a German off-site manufacturer of highly energy efficient components for all kinds of low energy houses, including, of course, PassivHaus certified turn-key Passive Houses. Here is the German website, here our English one.

Above a Passive House on our show area in Oberleichtersbach, Germany. Below a video, showing the eight essential hours of making a house thoroughly prepared by taking advantage of the latest off-site technology wind and watertight.

Should you miss the phrase "leading" or "best" or "first" in front of our name please don't worry, we know where we stand while we walk the walk!

Carpe diem!


#PassivHausUK: thank you and well done, hope to see you next year in a PHCC*

* PassivHaus Conference Centre

DC's concept for a foundation...

of a wise builder?



PM DC, 1:44 into the above video:

...I know that you can't see it or feel it right now. But think of it like this: the new economy we are building it is like building a house; the most important part is the part you can't see: the foundations. Slowly but surely we are laying solid foundations for a stronger future. And the vital point is this: if you don't stick with it it won't work.

A lot of can'ts, Mr. Prime Minister, but I like your metaphor: it is like building a house, isn't it:

²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

That's Matthew 7:24-27, known as "The Wise and Foolish Builders".

Yes, the foundation is very important; yet, in your speech it remains unclear what shall be build on this solid foundation: is it going to be a traditional construction, then, what would be new?

We need to tell the truth... you say, so is this new economy on what you describe as a solid foundation going to be like a Passiv Haus? Future-proof, healthy, comfortable and affordable?

I doubt it facing such basic but untackled problems like deficits and unemployment while I miss the strengthening or in some cases even rebuilding of the basic elements such like education, tuition, training, manufacturing and rational R&D into what will be the true elements of our future as well as setting any new standards for what you tell me I can't see or feel right now, Mr. Cameron.

All I see is more cuts and more debts or the same vice versa, trying to save banks, banksters, governments and incapacitated politicians just to preserve what can't be sustainable; is this all and again related to tradition or where and when will we see or feel any kind of learning effect coming in that will take us all forward?

Carpe diem!

shareholders' values shoeboxes

BBC: Architects say new houses
are 'shameful shoebox homes'

This is a bit like asking for the number of wheels when shopping for a car:

"In the UK people buy homes based on the number of rooms. In the whole of the rest of Europe pretty much, and certainly North America, you know how many square metres you are buying when you buy it - and that's not available to UK consumers."

 

The article matches my experience; a good example was the Highland Housing Expo where 3/4 beds were put into so-called bedrooms that one could hardly enter into through doors stopped by those huge beds from opening. No room for any furniture unless from a doll house, en-suite bathrooms smaller than in any prison with sinks too small to wash one hand in.

Excellent for profit and the shareholders' values but not build for people to live in named customers.

Here is a comment on the above BBC article: no need to hide, Snowknight, you are hitting some of the nails on their heads:

Compared to housing in Switzerland and Germany British housing is sub standard. The insulation is a joke, damp cold rooms which cost a fortune. Good quality low energy homes can be built for £100,000, but banks and building companies are not interested at all. Shabby houses mean more money need as after 10years renovations are required! Good houses 75 years nothing!

Carpe diem!

Hey, architect(s)!

What about change (-ing sides)?

While the word's currencies and finances tumble we are looking for recruitment? 

Unbelievable? No!

Passiv Haus

We are looking for (an) enthusiastic architect(s), fluent in English and (hopefully soon in) German, to join our HANSE HAUS team based in Oberleichtersbach, Germany.

To apply, you must be a highly proficient AutoCAD user, with fast and precise drafting skills. You must have strong technical construction knowledge. Experience of drawing coordination with engineering consultants and statutory authorities would be an advantage. Good communication skills, in English and (soon) in German, are required as it will be necessary to work closely with the rest of the HH team, clients and consultants, both in Germany, the UK and probably beyond.

This is a full time position with accommodation, 30 days holiday and some return flights to the UK per annum; while the salary is negotiable it is depending on experience and on you meeting the challenge of the position's tasks.

To apply for this job you must be a UK citizen, have EEA right of residence or already have a valid UK working visa > e-mail

HANSE HAUS, in case you did not know, is a leading supplier of off-site pre-manufacturered highly energy efficient constructions; we regard Passiv Haus Technology as the leading way forward towards sustainable and affordable living.

It might help if we shared similar humor; mind you, the above is no joke!

Carpe diem!

passiv or passive: House or Haus

Many of you have heard about the advantages of "going passive" when it comes to building your new home, house, office, nursery, hospital, workshop, etc.

But that "many of you" does by far not mean "enough"! Here is some more on the subject:






Carpe diem!

going passive, the future of construction...

making it fast, efficent and sustainable!

Simple answer on a simple question:

Carpe diem!

highland housing expo!

going by Wikipedia: "expo" may refer to:

• Expo (exhibition), short for "exposition", and also known as World's Fair

"a warm welcome to the Highlands"

Before we went to visit the Highland Housing World's Fair I had been wondering why the media cover of this once-in-a-life-time event was so sparse and why when ever I came across an occasional comment e.g. on Twitter it mostly referred to "nice pictures" taken during that "fabulous day out" mixed with those empty phrases like "fantastic", "interesting" and "worthwhile". Here is the exception to the rule: "ir-is.html">auchterness"

Well, now I know.

Getting this exhibition started had its pains; anything from "wrong location", "bad timing", "illegal site", "no interest", "too expensive" to the usual yet ambitious exaggerations like "...the fair will be the first of its kind in the UK and will be an innovative development of 55 homes which will be at the cutting edge of modern design and sustainable building techniques".

It might be the first but the rest of this official line was and is wishful thinking; hollow words but occasionally those bounce back. The catalogue says: "52 fantastic houses designed with the future in mind". Whose?

There is no accounting for taste, so why discuss it; but the quality of craftsmanship is measurable and any figure appointed to what I saw would be sub-terrestrial; it is an insult to any craftsman's pride. By no means should that expo be taken as a showcase of what Scottish craftsmanship can achieve and I dare include Scottish architecture in general, today and in future. (No wonder snagging lists come in endless series...)

cutting edge? no, lots of cut edges!

As one being interested in energy (construction plays a major role), its generation, consumption and conservation I took a look at the official consumption figures of the various houses; reading the latest fantasy novel offers more realism and truth. You will find all figures here. Same goes for U-values like 0.12 for a wobbly sandwich "filled" with glass wool accompanied by the line "we are the only ones approved to build to Passive House Standards in Scotland...".

wrapped in "sustainable" rubber

Total rubbish those figures; those are misleading the customers, building control but also politicians that far too easy tend to immediately put those fancy headlines on their flags not knowing what they are talking about (example? "wood is carbon neutral!" - but the terms "draught proofing" and "Zero Carbon Housing" ain't any better!).

It is obvious that there is a lack of control and thorough examination to separate what is pure marketing b...s... and what has de facto been built standing up to scrutiny. To make matters worse the houses are tiny, family unfriendly, the bedrooms even smaller; whoever drew them up obviously sleeps in 3/4 sized beds and is short.

The rest, sorry, was no better; it seems like "kitchens" and "windows" as well as "bathrooms" had been contracted out to one major supplier, each; may be that cut cost and made those a fortune but it did not follow the idea of an "expo" where you (normally) would want to demonstrate what is possible (tomorrow) and show an eye-opening and mouth-watering variety.

And one last thing for now: may be I am the last species of its kind but even if that was the case I would still believe that a customer wants to learn and understand and not "be sold for stupid"; that's German for "taken as a fool"! Instead of placing trained and knowledgeable staff able to answer any questions and give background information the positioned secondary pupils, nice, beautiful and friendly, repeated stereotypically, at best, what the fabulous but meaningless posters and leaflets said, anyway and only.

Flower House, finally now open, five days to go...

If you don't have questions but want to have a look, may be where the flowers are, hurry up.

Carpe diem!



Also, 27-08-2010: eco, friendly, green and credentials


Update 29-01-11

BBC: Housing Expo "Ghost Town" resident loves her new flat

Figures released by Highland Council on Friday showed August's exhibition of the energy-efficient homes made an operating loss of £514,000.

Almost £651,000 was spent on expo, but ticket sales amounted to £137,000.

Ms Meikle said she had been on a waiting list for an affordable property for four years.

The Inverness Courier: Housing Expo to mount sales drive in bid to recoup £6m

Cash from each sale is to be returned to the public purse as part of an agreement with the Scottish Government, which underwrote the controversial housing scheme with £6 million of taxpayer's money.

The Highland Council: Scotland's Housing Expo - Socio Economic Study

...
Visitor numbers peaked at weekends and during the last week
...
There were many visits by groups of professionals from different parts of Scotland
...
Visitors particularly interested in learning from the Expo included a leading property specialist from Australia and a reporter from the Chicago Tribune
...
The average visitor stayed at the Expo for just under 4 hours

Average socio economics at its best...


Gmab!

Construction Industry: New Challenges - No!

The challenges have long been addressed; we just need to take action.
It was meant to happen before the credit crunch hit the construction industry so hard; with energy prices going through the roof and the awareness of the vast majority of people(s) that the globe will see severe climate alterations the way we design and build our homes and buildings must change dramatically.

In fact the dominating headline to reduce each individual’s footprint in order to make a real difference emphasises the need to re-think construction, a major player when it comes to CO2 emissions:





It might come as a surprise to some but all the instruments and means to reduce emissions from any building be it residential, commercial, or public by 85% and more are readily available, proven and affordable!

Even a 100% reduction, i.e. no emissions, are possible even though there is a global understanding to talk about “no net emissions” instead; the difference often is described as the transfer from a “Passive House” to an “Active House”.

Those terms and many more like insulation, ventilation, air tightness levels, dew points, condensation and more, but also different heating systems we will blog on in the coming weeks.

All the issues will help to get away from climbing that blue hill in the graph below…







Carpe diem!