'Low cost and low carbon' Renewable House officially opened

The Renewable House, a new demonstration house that has been designed to illustrate that low cost and low carbon are compatible, has been officially opened.

Built at the BRE Innovation Park and officially opened at Insite 2009, the Renewable House is a demonstration of the commercial viability of building affordable homes from renewable materials.

The house has been designed to meet Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, with a build cost of £75,000, excluding groundworks and utilities.

Unlike many other houses that meet Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, the Renewable House features very few additional technologies.

Instead the performance of the house has been made possible through the ingenious use of materials which have been used to create a thermally efficient and low carbon building envelope.

By using limited technologies – which can have a short life span, therefore require on-going replacement, upgrading or maintenance – the house has also clearly demonstrated cost efficiencies.

The house that has been built at the BRE Innovation Park is a detached three bedroom home. However, the flexible design enables the concept to be developed to create a variety of house types including town houses, terraced and semi detached.  The design also enables the house to be enhanced to meet levels 5 and 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

“The design was crucial”, commented Dr John Williams of the NNFCC. “We are happy for people to look at the house and think ‘where are the renewable materials?'

"Renewables don’t have to look space age or stone age and the house is a great illustration of how these renewable materials can be used to create traditional looking homes, that are affordable and have great environmental credentials.”

The scheme was delivered by the NNFCC with funding from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The house was Project Managed by contractor The Linford Group who handled the design development and construction. They worked with design partners Empyer Homes and Archial Architects.

The key building material, Hemcrete® - a combination of hemp and lime - was provided by product manufacturer Lime Technology and the development was overseen by the client’s agent Benchmark Property.

For further information on The Renewable House or to arrange a visit to the house, visit www.renewable-house.co.uk.