FEW YEARS LATER AND WITH EVEN MORE EXPERIENCE UNDER OUR BELT… OUR LOW CARBON JOURNEY

With the built environment contributing towards approximately 40% of the UK’s total carbon footprint (with over 20% of this figure generated from the operational emissions of a building), we are, as an industry, looking for greener ways to build and review our existing structures to reduce the negative impact the construction sector has on the environment.

At Kind, our longstanding experience delivering modern and innovative methods of construction, coupled with our passion to apply a fabric first approach towards delivery, puts us in the perfect position to help our clients build sustainable structures for the future.

With over 77 years’ experience delivering projects across our five core sectors, we can effectively draw on the knowledge and skills we have built and apply this in practice to consistently achieve a quality solution, addressing contemporary issues such as the climate emergency and fuel poverty.

One of the most valuable experiences we have had building with thermal efficiency at the heart of the design traces back to 2007. Working with the (now) Director for Sustainability and lead Passivhaus designer Peter Ranken at Tooley and Foster Architects, we delivered Vincent House – Nags Head Road for our client Christian Action Housing.

This three-storey block, with 20 flats and ground floor offices, was designed to a highly efficient standard for a future with fossil fuel shortages in mind. The building is heated predominantly by electricity, with the commercial space heated via a below-ground floor heat pump. Along with this, the building has high levels of insulation and a ventilation heat recovery system. The incorporation of these key features meant we delivered a high energy performing building with much lower running costs for our client and the occupants of Vincent House.

In 2016, we decided we wanted to broaden our skill set further, by exploring how important a role MMC (modern methods of construction) could play in optimising the energy performance of a building with the Passivhaus principles in mind.

What is Passivhaus?

Passivhaus buildings are designed with high-energy efficiency in mind, aiming to develop a building that maintains a comfortable temperature, minimising the need for additional heating or cooling within the property.

So, we decided to put our money where our mouth was and commissioned a project of our own. We designed and built a ‘one-off’ quality residential scheme to explore innovative ways to develop the homes for our project.

To achieve the low carbon, lower energy performing homes we were looking for, we opted for a close panel timber frame system, which we felt was the most appropriate and effective way to build the homes located in Ardale, Essex.

By maximising the benefits of offsite production, we accelerated the speed of delivery whilst increasing the u-value, resulting in excellent, thermally efficient homes.

To ensure our newly built homes served us well as a ‘benchmark for best practice’, we engaged with the residents of two of the larger properties once they had moved in.

The two larger homes consisted of five bedrooms with 2,100 2 ft of space throughout.

It was important for us to gauge their day-to-day energy usage, to fully appreciate how the homes were performing once occupied. Providing this data would be the best way to demonstrate if the construction method we had selected was the right choice for the homes.