Serendipity made me purchase Alder. I was in the RIAS bookshop in Rutland Square to buy a much more prosaic Minor Works building contract when I spotted Alder and on impulse added it to my purchase. I had no idea what it was – there was little to go on except for some beautiful photographs […]
A deep green retrofit is always going to be more sustainable than switching from fossil fuels to renewables – and is much more sustainable than building new. This is being reflected in the changing workload of many ecological architectural practices, including Halvorsen Architects, which are increasingly taking on more retrofit projects than new-builds. This has
It’s very rewarding to have a client who is dedicated to bringing old buildings back to life. Not only does it help preserve the heritage and character of the area, it also reinforces a sense of place, while helping us to meet net-zero targets – the construction sector is responsible for an incredible 37% of global
Our hempcrete house near Dunbar is going up much faster than we expected. In fact, the construction process is quicker than for an equivalent timber-framed house. This is because the qualities of all the components of a traditional wall are met by the hempcrete alone – with the exception of the structural frame. Unfortunately Hempcrete’s
Our client has moved into her new, four-bedroom Passivhaus in central Edinburgh. It was quite a journey, through Covid and escalating material costs, but we got there and the client is delighted. In fact we have achieved a Scottish Building Standards ‘Gold’ sustainability label it. The Scottish Building Standards Sustainability labelling is a broader endorsement
Originally, the intention was to raise the roof of this modest Georgian home – a converted barn on a steading in Midlothian – to provide more accommodation for a growing family. Then the building materials price hike hit, following Brexit and other events, and the proposal became unaffordable. Instead, we had to fit as much
Halvorsen Architects are lucky enough to have water features going into two current projects. Last week I visited one that’s going beside a new hempcrete house outside Dunbar. It will be fed by rainwater from the roof, and form a focus of the garden, visible from the main rooms. I have learned a lot from the
Halvorsen Architects have just finished an extension to and remodelling of a house in Winchburgh, West Lothian. The core of this house was a 19th-century cottage which has been extended many times, most recently in the 1970s. Halvorsen Architects were asked to add further accommodation and reconfigure the existing house to make the most of
I went on my first ever tour of a working quarry last week. Given my main focus is on ecological architecture, the type of quarry came as a surprise. Kelhead, located near Annan in Dumfriesshire, and owned and operated by Grange Quarry Ltd – which has several concrete plants and two quarries in Dumfries & Galloway,
Mass housing developments are the scourge of the countryside. They’re often built without any infrastructure and there has typically been no obligation for developers to consider the wider context of “placemaking”. NPF4’s emphasis on placemaking could change this, but will the framework turn out to be another well-intentioned policy that doesn’t really filter down? Building
Retrofitting our existing housing stock to make it fit for 21st century living is a win-win. Though not cheap, it is an investment in the long-term for people and planet. As clients and governments become more ecologically aware, enthusiasm for sustainable retrofit of our existing buildings is growing. Having carried out several historic and sustainable
The train pulled into the small station of Dunkeld alongside an abandoned station building. I had arrived in rural Perthshire for the Rural Housing Scotland conference 2023. The walk to the Dunkeld House Hotel was longer than I expected – 3 miles – but well worth it. First over the elegant Thomas Telford Bridge where
The nineteenth century prime minister Benjamin Disraeli proposed publicly hanging architects for designing boring buildings. I found this out from a recent article in Building which, to commemorate its 180th anniversary, is running a series of archive articles. The one on Disraeli’s tongue-in-cheek proposal was published on 3 April, 1847. Ironically, some of the buildings
Halvorsen Architects was recently commissioned to design a forest school nursery, which will have a ‘playful’ natural water-treatment system at its heart. While we have done several ecological nursery buildings, this is our first forest school nursery. Possibly worryingly, I find it easy to put myself in the mind of a five-year-old, especially when playing with water, in
ECAN’s (Edinburgh Chartered Architects Network) visit to High Sunderland near Selkirk in the Scottish Borders was a timely reminder that architecture is not just about retrofit, energy saving and ecological design. I consider myself lucky to have been educated at a time and a place when ecological design was way down the agenda. The
Is this the dawn of the ‘wood age’? The stone, iron, bronze, glass and steel ages all benefited from wood but now it is now the turn of this ancient, natural and renewable material to take its place at the top of the materials hierarchy. Scotland should be making more use of its natural materials.
Another Passivhaus building designed by Halvorsen Architects is currently under construction in western Edinburgh. Edinburgh City Council granted planning permission for the new four-bedroom, two-storey contemporary house in 2020. Due to material cost inflation and supply-chain disruptions caused by Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic, and other global crises, we unfortunately needed to embark on various cost-cutting
I was entranced by this simple but elegant roof from London-based Tsuruta Architects. Responding to a north facing and sunken site the architect has designed an exquisite timber dia-grid roof whose shadows dance around the modest extension. Using traditional timber connections for the thin Accoya beams the architect has avoided the need for any glued or
Planning permission has been approved for a new building at Happy Days nursery Hardengreen branch in Midlothian. It is located in mature woodland and is a playful take on a timber cabin. It is raised off the ground, on piles so as not to disturb the tree roots, with a south-facing deck. The north facing
SEDA’s Report ‘A New Vision for Land Use in Scotland: 6 Conversations’ was released on Monday. It summarises the key themes that emerged in the highly successful events of the same name, held by SEDA in March and April, where 42 of the best informed people from all sectors of land use discussed the challenges
Concrete accounts for 8% of CO2 emissions, far higher than aviation at 2.5%. So if we are to help stop climate change we need to stop using concrete. Even the ‘more sustainable’ forms of concrete that replace some of the Portland cement with alternatives such as granulated blast furnace flag and fly ash have their
With one of my other hats on I am an events organiser for The Scottish Ecological Design Association (SEDA). Since SEDA members are predominantly architects most of our events are building related. More recently I decided to put more emphasis on non-architectural events. Next week A New Vision for Land Use in Scotland: 6 Conversations
A New Vision for Land Use in Scotland: 6 Conversations Read More »
The new community centre in Gorebridge – The Beacon – came into its own during lockdown. While central and local governments struggled to respond quickly to the pandemic, The Beacon and its committed staff rose to the challenge, helping locals cope to the crisis within a couple of weeks. It was the only place you
Respond, Recovery and Resilience – Gorebridge Beacon Read More »
It was with great joy that I received some photos from an Edinburgh client of their wild flower garden blooming this spring. It has been frustrating not to be able to pay my usual site visits, with work on several sites coming to a halt under the Civid19 lock down. These photos are of the
Covid-19 update As the coronavirus outbreak continues, Halvorsen Architects’ thoughts are with our customers and friends at this challenging time. We recognise that you have many priorities, but we want you to know that we are still operating. The safety and well-being of our community is our highest priority right now and we are closely following
