LOW POINT


“The time it took, but that was partly because we added the heat pump at a later stage.”


including roofl ights now relocated to the new loft extension and the original bath, now in the guest bathroom on the top fl oor. “I love the loft bathroom it doesn’t get enough attention” says Patricia. “I love the square tiles, there’s so much light, too.” Taking a fabric fi rst approach to the


renovation, the couple’s architect Ewald van der Straaten focused on making this doublebrickbuilt home thermally effi cient, without suffocating the structure and creating condensation. The solution was new breathable cork insulation on internal walls, fi nished with lime render. These products have lower embodied carbon (i.e. the carbon produced in their manufacture) than conventional foam- based insulation and they allow the old building to breathe’. The lime was then fi nished in natural, water and clay-based paints to minimise toxicity and improve internal air quality. The downside of this approach was a tiny


reduction in the size of the rooms, but creating a more airtight building meant Patricia and Gwen could install an air source heat pump. “This extended the project by three months and took a huge amount of work, installing underfl oor heating on the ground fl oor and in the new loft conversion, as well as new radiators on the middle fl oor,” says Patricia. “ut we’re saving a huge amount of money. In the summer, we hardly spend anything. We were cold that fi rst winter, as we hadn’t switched it on properly. Now, when you walk through the door, the


house is warm.” The costs of running the air source heat pump


are also offset by the electricity generated by a new photovoltaic solar array on the roof, which allows Patricia and Gwen to sell some back to the grid. Including the newly replaced windows, Ewald has calculated that the structural changes have led to a 74% improvement in kWh consumed per sqm. Thanks to the decision to remove the gas boiler, the house also has zero in-use carbon emissions. Insulation and technology were only part of the work done to this property, which was extended from a three bedroom, 111m2 to four bedrooms at 138m2


. This is thanks to


the loft conversion, which was passed under permitted development rules. The extension is timber-framed and clad in glass-reinforced concrete panels GRC.


A slightly unusual choice, this product uses glass reinforcement, is rated A1 for fi re retardancy and offers both durability and strength. The textured panels have the appearance of wood with the strength of concrete, although they can be fragile and diffi cult to transport. The extension also makes the most of both the light and views across London with ultra-slim aluminium framed architectural roofl ights from axlight. Above the new stair access to the loft, there is also a visually striking and very clever ‘funnel’, which drops light from a carefully positioned roofl ight down into the stairwell below at an


41


property


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