Back in 2006 we were approached by the makers of the popular Channel 4 show, Grand Designs hosted by Kevin McCloud. They were looking for a supplier of Central Heating Boilers for an exciting Eco House self-build in London.
Grand Designs, The Glass & Timber House, Dulwich, London
In March 2006, a joinery/carpentry firm -Talisman Manufacturing, owned by Bill Bradley (who is passionate about wood)-began building two timber 4-bed eco houses in South London (Landells Road, Dulwich). The scheme was architect-designed for a RIBA competition entitled The Future House of London, and encouraged architects to design houses suited to making better use of brownfield sites.
The houses are very modern, urban and visually stunning. As such, they have been selected to appear on the next series of Grand Designs (Channel 4) presented by Kevin McCloud. (Kevin was so impressed with Bill’s reclamation of the tiny site that he even wrote an article about BIMBYs – Build In My – in the Sunday Times HOME section. The TV crew is now on site virtually every week to film each stage; providing a fantastic showcase for all the suppliers, many of whom are local businesses).
In addition, a new TV programme called Grand Designs:Trade Secrets is also being filmed about the houses to explore the wider technical issues surrounding green buildings. This show will air on More4 directly after the main programme and is expected to appeal specifically to the trade sector of Grand Design’s audience (architects, engineers, contractors, designers etc etc).
The timber houses – constructed of huge parrallams sitting on steel piles-are clad in stylish Western Red Cedar sourced with help from the Canadian Timber Assn, surrounded by a huge Massandubra deck and gardens designed by a Silver-medal Chelsea Flower Show winner. Wooden fixtures and fittings throughout the houses are all manufactured from carefully selected FSC woods. A huge amount of research has gone into all aspects of the design – from the flat seedum-planted roofs which will attract birds and wildlife -that drain run-off rainwater into a harvesting tank; to the kitchen worktops which are being made from recycled wine bottles and crushed shells. Around 45% of the first floor of each house is glazed and, as they are built around a U-shape atrium, they are light, bright and modern with vistas right through each house.
A Chelsea Flower Show Silver Medallist has been contracted to prepare plans for the exterior gardens and decks. Simon Thomas is planning to use huge architectural plants – ferns, palms, bamboo etc to create a lush and exotic “jungle in suburbia”. The micro climate in London means that he can use plants that would not survive elsewhere in the UK and Simon is v excited about the project.
Everyone who has visited site has been blown away by the houses and many suppliers and contractors have very generously offered substantial discounts in support of the project.
Technical overview
- Two Worcester 24i System Boilers manufactured by Worcester-Bosch
- Two detached eco-friendly dwellings, built on brown-field site surrounded on all sides by residential properties. The houses are approached through a video entrance gateway opening to a timber-decked walkway with external built in lighting and planting.
- low impact piling foundation system designed to reduce the impact on surrounding boundary walls and neighbouring homes.
- timber construction. Walls and floors supported by parallam engineered beams encapsulating all cantilever aspects.
- building is sheathed in a constructional board and clad in vertically fixed fire-treated Western Red Cedar. The cedar has been supplied in part by the Canadian Timber Assn to help raise awareness of this FSC timber.
- clever design retains the neighbours’ perception of their greenness by using natural materials, extensive elevational planting and low maintenance flat sedum grass roofs. Seedum ensures water drainage is 90% more efficient than hard roofs. The run-off water will drain into a rain-harvesting system and be recycled for flushing toilets and exterior taps. The suppliers of the harvesting system are going to use the site to spearhead their “Save the Rain” PR campaign in 2007.
- about 40% of each house will be glazed. Windows are constructed and positioned to provide privacy to the occupier and adjacent neighbours with glazing running up from the floor and across the ceilings in the bedrooms and bathrooms. The houses are centred around fully glazed courtyards with open-plan living areas to each side. Large glazed doors at each end of the building open on to landscaped garden rooms. This, together with architectural planting to the courtyard areas, provides a green vista from any location on the ground floor.
- The issue of being overlooked/overlooking has been carefully considered with the clever use of controlled window views, roof lighting and obscured glazing elements. Southwark’s Planning Dept showed particular support for the proposal in relation to issues of overlooking and daylight/sunlight.
-The kitchen/bathroom worktops will be made from recycled wine bottles (crushed and mixed with shells).
- upper floor, reached via a floating staircase, consists of four double bedrooms joined centrally by a linked glazed ‘bridge’ overlooking the courtyard.
- garden design is by a Chelsea Flower Show silver-medal winner and includes 100% FSC deck, recycled rain water in square “ponds” and lime rendered walls.
- all internal décor will use eco-friendly paint and natural pigments/oils. The exterior cladding will be stained with linseed oils to maintain green credentials.
- The scale of the dwellings has been kept modest and the form broken up so as not to present large blank elements.
You can of course Buy Worcester Boilers from BHL
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