Halton Mill Community Homes
John Gilbert Architects have designed and delivered 20 new Passivhaus homes for a range of affordable tenures, on a brownfield site near Lancaster. This was delivered with the community, under Homes England grant regime and adds a new active travel friendly street to this suburban community.
The project has been funded by South Lakes Housing, Lancaster City Council and Homes England and we are working in partnership with Tyson Construction, R G Parkins and Partners and Elliot Associates to deliver the homes.
Delivering low carbon development
These high-quality homes have been built to exceptionally low-energy Passivhaus standard, helping to cut carbon emissions and reduce fuel poverty for residents. Passivhaus homes are built with meticulous attention to detail, rigorous design and construction according to principles developed by the Passivhaus Institute in Germany. These homes generally need 90% less energy for heating and hot water than standard buildings meaning that running costs are very low.
The houses have been constructed using airtight building fabric and will have high-performance windows and doors with insulated frames. They are all-electric, with the communal areas on the development aiming to use electricity from local renewable energy sources, namely the local hydroelectricity plant on the River Lune.
Innovative design
The layout has been designed carefully to be as efficient as possible and to promote community values. The orientation of the houses minimises the felling of the band of protected trees to the east. The pedestrian street provides opportunities for play, social interaction and civility. By keeping the parking to the edge of the development, the space has been maximised for the residents and enables a density of develop et which makes it fundable. The scale, width and design of the street has been carefully crafted to make a friendly, human scale space where residents and the community can walk, cycle, chat and play.
Engaging the supply chain
As part of the planning conditions, Lancaster City Council required we share expertise about Passivhaus construction with local contractors, suppliers and architects. Working with Contractors, Tysons, we engaged the supply chain on Passivhaus training and ran events such as workshop during Big Green Week in September 2021, which was well attended by builders and contractors.
This was created on a design and build contract basis, allowing us to advise the client in the early stages on optimising the design, thus reducing costs, whilst also supporting the contractor during the build phase, ensuring that risk was not priced into the project.
The project has been fully handed over the client, tenants have moved into the homes. We plan to undertake Post Occupancy Evaluation with Lancaster University in due course.