CASE STUDY


TRADITIONALLY ECO


An eco-afficionado achieved his dream to create a Passivhaus home in Leeds, but it had to be traditional in style so wasn’t plain sailing


TEXT JAYNE DOWLE IMAGES THE GREEN BUILDING STORE


s a solicitor by profession, Stephen Cirell took a very methodical approach to planning his first self-build, and to his quiet pride it has ended up breaking two records. It’s not only the first such eco-project in the Leeds area to be officially registered by the Germany-based Passivhaus Institute, it’s also the 1,000th Passivhaus unit certified in the UK. His immediate challenge was to find a plot, so he started out by drawing up a map with a one and a half circumference around where he lived in Roundhay in north Leeds, West Yorkshire. Eventually, he came across the nearby small village of Wike, eight miles north of the city centre.


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“It took me 15 months to crack it, so finding the right plot was high up there on the list of biggest challenges,” says Stephen, who started his quest to live in his own Passivhaus in January 2014 and completed his build in March 2017. “You get a bit disillusioned, all the time you’re looking at the clock, thinking that time is ticking on and you haven’t even got started yet.” In the end, he saw an opportunity advertised


38 www.sbhonline.co.uk


by an estate agent. Another buyer had bought a large village site, renovating the barn, but opting to sell 40 per cent of the plot. This included the original home on the site – Old Forge Cottage, which was derelict. Part of the attraction was that the 0.24 acre plot, for which Stephen paid £400,000, already held a dwelling, so planning looked as if it would be


“I knew I wanted a Passivhaus, but I was imagining lots of angular glass and big open-plan spaces, very modern and contemporary”


GREEN FEATURES The Green Building Store supplied the triple-glazed timber windows and doors


LOW POINT


“Going through the planning process. The local council was originally difficult to contact and slow in its operation. But it got better when I managed to engage with the planning officer.” – Stephen Cirell


july/august 2019


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