Offering a blueprint for zero carbon luxury homes

In the growing drive to conserve and protect our environment, many clients looking to buy a new luxury home are also interested in sustainability and eco-friendly design solutions.  Building a green home not only reduces impact to the local and larger environment but can also be cost effective with energy savings for the home owner.

The range of eco-energy solutions on the market however can be mind-boggling for the customer – from solar thermal and photovoltaic panels, to biomass wood pellet boilers, state of the art insulation options, rainwater harvesters and ground source heat pumps.  In the same way, for the construction industry, there is much to take on board when building a luxury eco-home, in terms of how these technologies work together to enhance the quality of the home, create a luxurious environment and reduce carbon footprint.

A recent guide from the NHBC Foundation called ‘Designing Houses for the 21^st Century - Lessons for Low Energy Design’ calls for a complete review of housing design and construction practise in order to achieve zero carbon homes.  This guide argues that too many houses are being built with green solutions “bolted on” later on down the construction process so that new eco-technology is not being given a chance to perform at the highest possible level.

This NHBC guide advocates a “fabric first” approach, where the insulation, air tightness and ventilation are considered at the very start of the process and thus designed to give optimal performance before any other green energy solutions are incorporated. The result is an eco home thoughtfully designed with the passive aspects of the house, such as the external walls and insulation, working in an effective partnership with the active systems like ventilation and heating.

At Richmond Homes we’ve been following this holistic approach for sometime in designing and constructing luxury green homes. Each new project is regarded as a whole with careful thought given to every stage of construction and design, working closely with clients to ensure their needs are understood and transformed into ecological solutions for everyday living.

We work with a very talented and reputable firm who produce sustainable eco-timber frames for our luxury houses, Rob Roy Homes. Their timber frames have excellent performance credentials and combined with their ULTRAwarm thermal and acoustic performance insulation, produce a home that has efficiently controlled internal temperatures, noise control and improved air quality. With these essential factors in place, the home is a blank canvas for a number of low carbon technological solutions to maximise reduced impact on the environment and energy costs for the home owner.

Find out more about eco live in luxury at our website

Inspiring future builders at Townhill Primary School

We were delighted to receive some beautifully written thank you letters from the children at Townhill Primary School after our visit in March.

It seems that Bill Bonnar, our Construction Manager’s talk on building eco-houses was a big hit, with many of the children now wanting to be builders when they grow up! Their letters, all hand written and well thought out, expressed interest in green issues and the dangers of being on a building site so they must have been listening well when Bill was explaining about constructing houses.

From Emily “Thank you for coming to us and we loved the answers. I never knew that there was two kinds of solar panels. I learned a lot about houses and homes. We made a garden or a house out of a shoe-box. Did you like some of our questions?”

 “Thank you for your answers Mr Bonnar, thank you for telling us all about building houses. I was interested to hear about the machines that are used. We went around the village to look for different kinds of houses.” Adds Rhynan.

The children were so interested in the ecological aspects of building homes as well as the technology involved, Bill was astonished by how much they knew already about what goes in to building a sustainable home.

They also enjoyed being celebrities after two write-ups and photographs featured in the local press.

Good luck to this new generation of house builders from everyone at Richmond Homes.  Here’s a last word from Ryan:

“Thank you for coming to talk to us. I know not to go on a building site until it is finished. I wonder what it would be like to be a builder. When I grow up I want to be a builder.”