Research Questions

[Anonymous]

Hi,
I'm an undergraduate student hoping to do my dissertation project on environmentally sustainable building. Being in the very early stages of research (and with very little intimate knowledge of the subject area) I was hoping to get some opinions from members of this forum (for obvious reasons) on the questions below.

– Do small, independent UK businesses commonly adopt environmentally sustainable approaches in their buildings and day-to-day operations?

(I imagine the answer to the above question is no)

– If not, why?

To provide a bit more detail: I'm interested in environmentally sustainable building and I know that many examples of residential buildings exist that have been designed with almost complete carbon neutrality in mind. However I'd like to examine why more small businesses in our towns and cities don't do the same – surely the social, economic and environmental benefits completely outweigh the cost of any retrofitting? Is the issue lack of access or awareness? Large multi-nationals are not likely to do this however surely independent business owners – your local greengrocer or butcher, could benefit from retrofitted green technology?

I realize that you may not want to waste both your time and expertise on helping me complete my dissertation – but even a quick opinion on the above would be much appreciated in helping me steer my background reading and research design.

Thanks, Tom

[Anonymous]

Well said Andy

[Tom Foster]

Have you read Kate de Selincourt's article 'The cost of building passive' in Passive House Plus mag UK issue 3? At one point she suggests that with the incentive to simplicity of the envelope, a PH can cost no more that a standard spec house, laden as it is with frills – and figures to support that.

Techniques like EWI can result in a shell that's even simpler to build than a 1960s cavity wall, let alone the elaborated dogs dinner that cavity wall has become in trying to scrape thro Bldg Regs! WUFI study can reveal simplified (but unfamiliar, re-thought) safe ways of building stud, too.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the response!
After reading around the topic I'm kind of under the impression that initial set-up and installation costs of certain technologies are later offset by energy savings etc.
But good point, I do appreciate that most independent business owners will be concerned with meeting margins than saving the planet..

[Anonymous]

I think that'll be the case for any business, large or small. I'm cynical enough to think that larger companies only go for eco things for PR reasons, which in turn will increase profits.

Everything has a value!

[Anonymous]

I must fish out Kate's article again. It will be a while since I read it.

Your experience is both interesting and reassuring, as I hope I'm not kidding myself that I can build a Passivhaus for not too much more than one that just meets building regs. Will you be getting your Passivhaus certified? This can often make the build more expensive due to the need to use certain certified products rather than cheaper (but equally capable) non-certified products. As a speculative builder, I need to get it certified for credibility.

[Anonymous]

Wow! I certainly need to bear this in mind. The OP's research could uncover some really unexpected things such as this. I might just avoid the eco thing and concentrate on low bills for my PR!

[Tom Foster]

If only a) the big housebuilders and b) ordinary builders wd just bite the bullet and allow a re-think to happen, of how to build eco, they'd find, miraculously that it wd be a lot easier and cheaper.

Instead they cling tenaciously to minimised incremental modification of the old familiar ways, which naturally struggle to scrape through even watered down Bldg Regs uprates, and that only by creeping elaboration of the old favourites, adding more and more expensive and tricky specialist products to the dogs dinner.

Consider the 20s to 60s 11″ cavity wall – two 4″ masonry skins, one plastered, and 2″ cavity with dirt-cheap ties, on 2'-6″ deep 6″ conc strip found. Nothing cd be simpler.
Builders think they're still building good old cheap reliable cavity walls even tho they now have crumbly lightweight inner skin, 6″ cavities filled or part-filled with risk-prone insulation, hefty stainless ties fitted with insulation spacers, expensive dry lining, on 3'-4″ deep 8″ founds – plus more elaborations.
It's a different, elaborate animal, but is considered 'easy' tho in fact it's merely 'brainless'.
Eco builders even push the hopeless concept to 12″ filled cavities, hugely expensive imported ties, wide wide founds which increase effective footprint and excavation/disposal costs – and all they achieve is an extremely expensive way of applying purely decorative wallpaper to what could be a re-thought way of building.

That re-thought way might be single (inboard) skin masonry, which rarely has to be 215, mostly 140, or even 100, with struct calcs, on found that can be even narrower than the 60s cavity wall. EWI'd externally, as thick as you like, any facing you like, boarded, tiled, rendered, brick-slipped or patent fake-render brickwork. EWI makes insulation continuity easier at all points, can be taken right down to found possibly eliminating need for underfloor insulation.

This kind of re-thought eco-building is actually even easier than trad 60s cavity wall. And so it goes, with a bit of re-thinking.

Go for it!

[Anonymous]

There are some great words of wisdom being written here, more eloquent than my own, but precisely what I've been thinking. I've experienced the 'glazed eye' look at a number of shows when speaking to building companies, most notably (for some reason) at the HBR show in Harrogate last autumn. The points raised are precisely the reason for my choosing to build what others won't (or can't). It's a big risk for me, so fingers crossed. I hope my principled approach doesn't result in me getting my fingers burnt!

[Anonymous]

Many thanks for all the replies!

JSHarris: “It's false, but probably the fault of some of the TV programmes that have shown “eco” homes as being built underground or from techniques like rammed earth.”

I'm ashamed to admit this was my notion of an 'eco' home. Everyone here has mentioned a much lower running cost implied with environmentally sustainable building – my question remains why more small businesses don't take advantage of this technology despite the initial set-up/retrofitting cost and I think this will form the basis of my research.

I really appreciate the feedback and if anyone has any more words of wisdom please feel free to continue posting or contact me at 1107165D@student.gla.ac.uk – any views on the issue are extremely valuable.

[Anonymous]

I must fish out Kate's article again. It will be a while since I read it.

Your experience is both interesting and reassuring, as I hope I'm not kidding myself that I can build a Passivhaus for not too much more than one that just meets building regs. Will you be getting your Passivhaus certified? This can often make the build more expensive due to the need to use certain certified products rather than cheaper (but equally capable) non-certified products. As a speculative builder, I need to get it certified for credibility.

Ours was more expensive than a normal house BUT that's only partly due to the fact that we went for an (almost) passive house, we could easily have gone for cheaper glazing than Internorm if we'd compromised on sizes and having integrated blinds, English oak shingles to the exterior, end grain flooring from our own woods, plus a large footprint for the size of the house (hence more slab and roof)

I'd hope that with more suppliers on virtually every element it's easier to match a normal build pricewise

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys. I'll certainly be looking at Munster now!

I've also decided to go for the PH course down in Plymouth at the end of April. As a result, I might be able to be more helpful on these forums!

[Anonymous]

Have you been to EcoBuild? Worth a visit. I found the AECB conference very interesting too, but no idea how useful you'd find it

[Anonymous]

Definitely worth visiting a few local projects too, whereabouts are you?

[Anonymous]

Likewise, happy for people to visit

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys.

I'm off to EcoBuild (for the first time) on Wednesday. I visit most of the other shows, including HBR and Grand Designs. I'm confident the exhibitors at EcoBuild will be less eco naïve. At the other shows, I was shocked how little exhibitors understood about low-energy homes, and the presumption that a low-energy home was covered with PVs and heated by heat pumps.

I'm in Tamworth (south Staffordshire). There aren't many certified PH projects near me, but I still hope to find local projects as you suggest. Thanks for the offers. I'll be sure to take them up if you're not too far away. I'll be driving from west Wales to Tamworth on Monday or Tuesday if that's anywhere you?

[Anonymous]

I'm in Essex, near Billericay. I'm sure there are a few passive houses in Herefordshire

[Anonymous]

Essex is a bit of a detour! 😉 Shropshire is more en-route than Herefordshire, and also has more than it's fair share I suspect.

[Anonymous]

Cheers John.

[Anonymous]

Map of certified passivhaus building projects
http://passivhausbuildings.org.uk/passivhaus.php

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the map. I had, in fact, already checked it, and was surprised that there weren't many complete projects en-route. What would be really useful though is a map of in-progress PassivHaus projects. Any ideas anyone?

[Anonymous]

… And projects which are 'non-certified' PassivHause-style projects.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the map. I had, in fact, already checked it, and was surprised that there weren't many complete projects en-route. What would be really useful though is a map of in-progress PassivHaus projects. Any ideas anyone?

A good place to start is with suppliers, Internorm got us onto a couple of jobs, so did Touchwood homes and Lime Green

[Anonymous]

My unfinished self build, being built to PH standards, is on the AECB low energy building database. That reminds me that I'll have to update it. I had a group of 20 or so local AECB members visit the build a while ago and at the end of last year 8 Swedish members of an EU group looking at rural sustainability for the over 50s visited. I often have ramblers stopping to look at the build and I have shown many around. The usual response is amazement that it is possible to have a house that doesn't require heating. I keep saying the “Passivhaus” word in the hope that it will stick in the memory of at least a few visitors.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the link to the Low Energy Database. I didn't know it existed!

“Why aren't all houses built like this?” A recurring thought of mine!

[Author]

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