Following on from planning permission, Hesketh Hayden developed the detailed design and specification of the EcoBungalow ready for costing by the builder, Alex Burn of 4Site Engineering & Construction. With spiralling inflation, the costs came back significantly over budget. We got together for a strategy meeting: how could we get this project back on track? I said at the meeting: ‘This is not Grand Designs. I’m not going over budget. And I’m NOT having a baby’ (For the unini

Sustainable living isn’t just about the building. When I moved in, my garden was pretty typical of 1970s suburbia: close mown grass in...

Many people don’t realise that that VAT (Value Added Tax) is charged on building works to existing homes, but not on new builds. It’s...

I’m a town planner as well as an architect. In my professional life, I’ve submitted some very large, very complex planning applications...

Once the air tightness strategy was established, we could work towards finalising the design ready to submit for planning approval. You...

To work properly, a Passive House needs continuous insulation together with a continuous air tight membrane. No gaps. Gaps allow heat...

Retrofitting a home to Passive House principles needs a special kind of builder. One who is committed to the idea, pays attention to...

Before starting design, we needed to understand my existing bungalow. How is it currently performing in terms of energy efficiency? How...

The starting point for the architectural design was to develop and agree the brief with Russel Hayden. There were two halves to this:...

I'm an architect. So this should be easy for me, right? Well, I can design 10,000 homes (the last project I worked on before I retired...

I must have been the only person prioritising a simple box-like form as I looked at places to buy in Kendal. Whilst it's possible to retrofit any type of home to make it more energy efficient, there are some features that will make the project easier. The first is a simple form, so that the overall surface area to floor area ratio is as small as possible. A bungalow isn't ideal - a two storey 'box' would be a lot more efficient. But I wanted to be on one level to 'future proo