Do wine bottles hold the key to affordable 'zero carbon' homes? » Housing » 24dash.com

A triple-glazed house with wall insulation 3ft deep or an igloo made out of 3,000  wine bottles may not be a practical solution for making social housing more energy  efficient. But if housing associations are to meet the zero carbon ambition for  new homes by 2016 a radical approach could be essential, writes Pam Caulfield.

Rather than fitting homes with the latest high-tech ‘eco-gadgets’, current ‘green thinking’ in the sector favours more traditional methods of low energy construction, using renewables such as wood, straw and earth.

And for housing providers thinking about adopting a cutting edge approach, a visit  to the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales could be a day well spent.

Its ethos is to try and steer the building industry away from everyday modern materials and towards centuries-old energy-efficient methods created by our ancestors that can be re-invented for use in modern housebuilding.

Set between Welsh mountains in an old quarry in Machynlleth, the centre specialises in training architects, builders, town planners and individuals with no previous building experience and is open to visitors.

It also runs the largest single subject masters course in environmental architecture in the UK. Developed five years ago, the course has grown mostly by word of mouth from 40 to 400 students.

“The threat of climate change is ever more urgent if you read the science,” said Paul Allen, Development Director at CAT. “Our aim is to churn out hundreds and hundreds of fully trained professionals, who will pass on their expertise and begin this big re-skilling right across the industry.”

The centre itself is a living, working example of a sustainable community with some students living close by in the old mining cottages. Lectures are held in theatres made of straw bale and rammed earth. Much of the canteen food is farmed organically onsite. There’s even a solar powered phone box.

“We aim to create a learning environment that is an exemplar of very best practice so the students are studying in the environment they are living in,” said Paul Allen.

Now the centre is taking on its most significant development by using its own low carbon techniques to build the £6.2 million Wales Institute for Sustainable Education (WISE) and training builders in the construction process.

The expansion of the existing site will include a rammed earth lecture with a capacity of 200 people, seminar rooms, breakout rooms, a restaurant, bar and 50 en-suite bedrooms.

“We aim to attract people from far and wide to come and stay here, especially those from the public sector and housing associations,” said Sarah Turnbull, WISE Business Development Manager. “They can come with their teams for ‘away days’ and we can build them a programme.”

As a builder, lecturer and trainer on the masters course in Architecture and Advanced Environmental Studies (AEES), Blanche Cameron is familiar with the challenges housing associations face in meeting green energy targets.

She said: “I’m not sure the Government understands what it means by zero-carbon and how hard it will be to achieve that.

"The focus seems to be on building new eco-homes but the UK currently has the least energy efficient housing stock in the UK."

Blanche suggested a continental approach of reaching ‘passive house standards’ by 2020 would be more feasible: “Germany has set itself a goal to refurbish their housing stock at a rate of 5% a year for the next 20 years. We need legislation to improve the existing homes or we’ll never meet the targets.”

It might not just be the law that needs to change but also people’s attitudes towards how well eco developments fit into the urban landscape.

“Most countries in Europe have timber houses in city centres and elsewhere,” said Blanche. “We just have this perception about timber homes and it’s reflected in the insurance industry as well with higher prices. It’s really a prejudice supporting volume building and the use of more heavyweight materials.”

Through its training schemes, The Centre for Alternative Technology has become a pioneer in making green building techniques part of the mainstream. And if the nation begins to embrace the use of low energy, natural and recycled materials, then perhaps an igloo made of wine bottles may not be so out of the ordinary after all.