The standard for eco friendly builds has been raised since Fisher German helped The Dumble gain planning consent.
The Dumble was permitted under National Guidance PPS7 which allows dwellings in rural areas that can demonstrate ‘a truly outstanding and ground breaking design of exceptional quality and an innovative nature.’ This criteria has set the bar very high in terms of design for new builds and the environmentally friendly aspects of the houses are also intensely scrutinised.
Since designing The Dumble, engineer and entrepreneur Robin Hamilton and Fisher German have established Home Revolution, a subsidiary company, to review and help with a number of schemes for other eco home projects.
It is likely to become progressively more difficult to demonstrate innovation and individuality especially in terms of environmental design, but as these ground-breaking projects are completed and start to demonstrate their efficiency, planning authorities are more likely to appreciate and accept the features of eco homes and they will become more the rule than the exception.
Eco friendly features such as solar panels, wind turbines and grey water systems are becoming the norm in standard housing projects. Building regulations demand increasingly higher insulation requirements and numerous local authorities are seeking 10% renewable energy as standard in all new homes built.
The Dumble attempts to establish new concepts for design and build, not achieved by just increasing insulation and energy efficiency, but also by making the structure of the building itself work as an interactive energy store. Heat energy can be stored within the house (cooling the interior) or withdrawn (warming the interior), as required.
This concept, if adopted on a wider scale, will also provide huge benefits in reducing the peak demands for power and smoothing out the varying load on electricity generation, further reducing emissions and the national carbon footprint.
The Government’s review in The Housing Green Paper has also resulted in other initiatives, including:
Mass market housing is moving towards the higher level set by revolutionary eco homes but the gap between standard practice and the homes built under the Exceptions Policy remains wide. Indeed, it is questionable whether the Government’s objective for all new homes to be zero carbon rated by 2016, only seven years away, will be achieved within the next 10 years. The economic climate and the near collapse of the housing market has compounded the issue making developers even more resistant to higher costs of environmentally friendly design.
It would appear therefore that it may be some time before the standard four bedroom detached ticks the boxes to benefit from the tax relief of zero carbon homes. Up to last year there were less than 10 new homes that were able to benefit from the zero tax relief, demonstrating the high standards that have been set and the void that has to be filled to achieve the zero carbon target.
The Dumble is a leading example of eco home design and innovation, but there is definitely some way to go before a revolving zero carbon home is on every new housing estate! However, even if only some of its features are incorporated in future buildings, both domestic and commercial, everyone will benefit.
For further information about planning for eco friendly homes, contact Kay Davies on 01530 410824 email kay.davies@fishergerman.co.uk
Click here to visit the Home Revolution website www.home-revolution.com
