client private
engineers CRA Ltd.
contract value £287,000
total area 107 sq. m.
This four-bedroom detached house in Craigleith, Edinburgh, was built to Passivhaus House standards in the garden of an existing house. The outline of the building reflects the planning constraints in every direction. The ground floor includes a large open-plan kitchen/dining/living area which opens onto the back garden.
The structure is of timber, using I-joists to minimise thermal bridging and Posi-Joists in the internal floors to accommodate the mechanical ventilation and heat-recovery duct work. This method of ventilating the house while extracting heat is a necessary when designing to Passivhaus airtightness standards.
Natural materials are used where possible including wood-fibre board panelling and sheep’s wool insulation in the walls and roof.
The lower roof is green sedum and the larger upper roof covered with photovoltaic panels providing all the electricity requirements of the house. Excess energy is stored in a Sunamp phase-change heat battery.
