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ECOBUILD SHOW PREVIEW
Lomax Builders converts Victorian School- house into eight energy-efficient apartments
architectural detailing of Norwich’s late Victorian heritage. Surviving with little visible external alteration, the Schoolhouse has been sympathetically refurbished into eight energy efficient apartments by Lomax Builders Ltd. From memorabilia found during the renovation, generation upon generation of local families were educated here. Names mischievously carved into the rear brick wall, secret notes written in childish scrawl stuffed behind old timber panes; boys turned into men here – many of whom fought with distinction for their country. A former student, James Arthur Rose, remembers how the Schoolhouse narrowly avoided destruction during the Baedeker Blitz in April 1942. As a boy of 14 he remembers, “we found a large crater in Hatton Road, the bomb missed the School by 50 yards!” Surely this stoic defiance of the Luftwaffe’s bombs underlines the special nature of this project – a heartfelt desire to breath new life into one of Norwich’s unsung architectural gems. That Lomax Builders Ltd completed the
B
extensive renovation of this beautiful building within just 12 months is all the more impressive when the number of sustainable energy efficient solutions put in place are fully understood. Extensive thermal wall insulation, under-floor heating and high performance period-style timber windows and doors were used throughout. This draughty building with solid walls and high-vaulted ceilings required an innovative solution to go above and beyond the modern energy efficiency requirements of the local planning department. As the roof needed replacing, Minus7 Ltd’s award-winning hybrid renewable energy system was the obvious choice. Planning permission was not a challenge for Lomax Builders Ltd as Minus7’s building-integrated solar endother- mic tile-planks closely match welsh slate in look and weight and collect energy efficiently night and day. Using the best of solar thermal, heat pump
and energy storage technologies in one simple building-integrated solution, Minus7 provides consistent low carbon heat and hot water to the latest occupants of the
uilt in 1897 for £3000, St Mark’s Boys’ Schoolhouse’s beautiful facade stands testament to the delightful
Schoolhouse. The low operational and running costs of the system enables the new landlord to incorporate heating and hot water bills within the monthly rental payment – simultaneously increasing the disposable income of the tenants and providing the land- lord with an additional revenue stream. With no need to service gas boilers nor landlord certificates, minimal maintenance costs, Minus7 performance guarantees and government subsidies, the landlord will continue to pocket significant savings for decades to come. Lomax Builders have been so impressed, they are now working with Minus7 on their third development, utilising its latest zero carbon technolog, which incorporates embedded photovoltaic cells into the solar thermal roof planks. As the Schoolhouse boasts the remnants of
a massive playground at the rear of the building, Minus7 Ltd’s in-house design team have situated the patented solar energy processor outside; thermal stores used to heat the building are hidden beneath decking out in the newly created courtyard, with plenty of room left for parking. The internal pipework for the Minus7 system is buried within the insulation of walls and floor, providing
further thermal efficiencies. Even the grand double entrance door is thermally efficient with special thermal raised and fielded panels created to match the original door design – offering wheelchair access and the added benefit of low U-values. The only major challenge for this project
was the location of the Schoolhouse – situated close to a busy road that feeds traffic directly into the city of Norwich; additional acoustic glazing to the windows virtually eliminates this external noise. “The result is a warm, quiet and energy efficient building with an improved energy rating certificate from a lowly F to a massively improved B,” says David Lomax, technical director, Lomax Builders Ltd. “Great care has gone into the preservation of the building’s beautiful façade and we have made an investment to ensure the building will provide affordable, sustainable heat with whole-life cost benefits, low maintenance and reduced environmental impact. This will ensure the building will last for another hundred years.” Meet the Minus7 team at EcoBuild 2017
at stand A162 near the N4 visitor entrance. 01983 282844
www.minus7.co.uk
ECOBUILD STAND NO A162
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK
ADF FEBRUARY 2017
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