"The New Autonomous House" Southwell – Circa 160m2 - Refurbishment - 3 bedroom detached family home

 

The Autonomous House is arguably the first built original 20th Century UK eco home. Which then became a template for other renowned eco homes built shortly thereafter, such as at the Hockerton Housing Project.

 

As a refurbishment this recent project comprised the alterations and the complete modernisation to one of the UK’s first off grid urban eco homes. Built in 1993, the Autonomous House is widely acclaimed as the template for subsequent Low / Zero carbon homes that have followed and is notable for being the very first house in the UK with a grid connected solar PV array.

​

Route to Build – Client led Outline Design Requirements and Specification of Finishes, Client Project Management, Client Supplier Selection, Client Interior Decorations.

 

Preferred Supplier Status - I was appointed lead for all the general building works and finishes and therefore there was no competitive tender. As lead I worked direct for the client and supervised other client appointed suppliers who were responsible for the new renewables, electrics, plumbing, and wastewater system works, etc.

 

Services Provided - Initial design input on layout and reconfiguration of internal spaces, the property was originally designed and built as an "upside down" house with living areas on the 1st floor and bedrooms / bathrooms on the ground floor, the new layout was for a conventional layout with living areas on the ground floor and bedrooms & bathrooms on the 1st floor. This therefore involved complete space planning of both floors to create a really user friendly and practical comfortable environment for the occupancy of the home now and in the future.

 

I provided consultancy on feasibility of design, alongside planning / building control requirements and build specifications, including proposing new services layouts. I also undertook all the general building works and enabling works for others, such as for the ventilation and plumbing systems.

​

Enabling works required strip out of all existing internal partition walls, kitchen, bathrooms etc and some structural alterations. Existing materials such as timber and existing doors were reclaimed and reused in the new layout wherever feasible to minimise waste. All redundant materials were sent for recycling.

 

The Scope of Works Provided - 3 in No. bedrooms, 1 in No. dressing room, 2 in No. Bathrooms, 1 in No. cloakroom, open plan kitchen diner, study, existing 14m2 reception hallway retained, a main sitting / TV room, existing 14m2 landing on 1st floor retained providing open plan secondary sitting / games room & library area, re-designation of previous 1st floor open roof void mezzanines into closed loft storage areas.

​

In brief the build works undertaken included, structural works, new partition walls, pocket doors, plastering, new tiling to all floors (160m2), wall tiling, 1st and 2nd fix carpentry / on site joinery, new bathrooms, kitchen installation, new French doors including forming structural opening, new Velux windows to entrance porch, additional new French windows and side hung casement windows to existing 15m x 3m conservatory (buffer zone), improvement works to enhance air tightness where identified to increase energy efficiency rating.

​

The property has had a Demand Control Ventilation system installed, a new roof mounted Solar PV array, upgrades to the existing Velux windows with smart opening and closing technology, LED lighting, updated battery storage for the PV array, existing 30,000 litre rainwater harvesting system retained and incorporated into updated water system, the installation of two in No. Electric Vehicle charging points, as well as utilising the latest  IFTTT home automation technology for many of the systems, alongside real time monitoring and controls, etc

​

As a footnote, this house has no primary (central) heating system installed as over the last 27years since it was originally built it has been proven not to need one. How does that work you may ask? Well it is heated by harvesting the suns energy, AKA solar gain, and storing that energy / heat in the thermal mass of the house, then only releasing it as required to keep the house warm in winter. The whole thermal mass of the house is therefore like a big battery, charging up when energy is freely available in the summer and also during the winter, storing it, and then gently releasing that energy on demand naturally as nature intended, thereby keeping you comfortably warm and at a stable temperature throughout all the four seasons. Alongside Infrared energy we also receive from the sun that also keeps us warm, it's all for free. It's therefore not just about Science, but also Nature...