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Sulgrave Gardens Housing - Passive certified development - London

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  • 14 December 2018
  • United Kingdom
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Sulgrave Gardens Housing

Sulgrave Gardens Housing

Sulgrave Gardens Housing

Sulgrave Gardens Housing - Photography: Morley Von Sternberg

Sulgrave Gardens Housing

Sulgrave Gardens Housing - Photography: Morley Von Sternberg

Sulgrave Gardens Housing

Sulgrave Gardens Housing

Sulgrave Gardens is a well-designed scheme with good architectural detail that over time is ageing well. Cartwright Pickard put a lot of resources into the project looking at the detail so that the finished product has got the right materials and is built to last.

 

David Woods, Development Director, Octavia Housing

Sulgrave Gardens comprises 30 family homes in four blocks with a mix of typologies (houses, apartments and maisonettes) and tenures (9 homes for affordable rent, 13 for shared ownership and 8 private houses) in a conservation area in West London. At the time of certification, Sulgrave Gardens was the largest Passivhaus development in London. The scheme is arranged in four blocks. Two are Passivhaus certified and two designed to Passivhaus principles.

 

The houses to Sulgrave Road have been designed to re-establish and reinforce the Victorian street frontage. Creating a vertical rhythm along the terrace, they maintain the height and echo the richness of fenestration pattern and layering commonly associated with Victorian domestic architecture.

 

Sliding louver panels running along a track in front of the windows provide movable solar shading to south and south-west facing façade windows, to reduce the thermal gain inside and control the levels of direct light. These will be open during winter months and can be closed during sunny summer days. A textured brickwork surface adds visual interest when the shutters are drawn. The landscaping unifies the four buildings and has been designed to be high quality yet low maintenance. An attractive, planted approach is created with a pedestrian-priority shared surface. The external areas have been designed to encourage sociability and informal play.

 

Client Octavia Housing
Location  Hammersmith, London
Completion  2013
Cost  £5.3m

Awards

  • Hammersmith Society Awards – Sustainability Award
  • National Housing Awards – Best Sustainable Scheme
  • Sustainable Housing Awards (Shortlisted)
  • Brick Awards – Best Development 6-25 units (Shortlisted)
  • Building Awards – Sustainable Development of the Year (Shortlisted)
  • RICS London Awards – Residential Award (Shortlisted)
  • Housing Innovation Awards – Most Innovative Affordable Housing Scheme (Shortlisted)

images / information from Cartwright Pickard Architects

 

Passive house certification:

Blocks A&B : certified.

Blocks C&D: not certified (not enough solar gains and/or compacity for rationally acheiving Passive house standard).

 

PHPP values

Air tightness n50 = 0.4/h  result of the press.test =0,36

Annual heating demand 13 kWh /(m2a )

Heating load 12 W/m2

Primary energy requirement 112 kWh /(m2a ) on heating installation, domestic hot water, household electricity and auxiliary electricity

 

Walls:

Blocks A & D (timber frame): 102. mm facing brickwork externally, followed inside by 50mm cavity, 90mm phenolic insulation, breather membrane, 142mm SIPs panel, airtightness layer, 25mm timber battened service zone 2x15mm plasterboard lining with skim finish. U-value: 0.103

Block B & C (concrete frame): 102.5mm facing brickwork externally, followed inside by 50mm cavity, 90mm phenolic insulation, breather membrane, 142mm SIPs panel, airtightness layer, 25mm timber battened service zone 2x15mm plasterboard lining with skim finish. U-value: 0.103

Blocks B, C & D have some areas of aluminium cladding, with a similar build-up behind. U-value: 0.097

 

Roof:

Block A & D: 500x250mm fibre cement slate externally, followed underneath by 25mm timber battens, 25mm timber counter battens, breather membrane, 80mm phenolic insulation, airtightness layer, 25mm timber battened service zone, 2x15mm plasterboard lining with skim finish: U-value: 0.103

Block B & C (concrete roof): 50mm paving on spacers, followed underneath by geotextile membrane, 360mm phenolic insulation, fully bonded waterproof membrane, 240mm reinforced concrete slab, airtightness layer lapping onto underside of concrete slab, services zone (varies), 1x15mm plasterboard lining with skim finish or suspended, ceiling in communal lobbies. U-value: 0.1

Block B (timber joisted roof): 50mm paving on spacers, geotextile membrane, 360mm phenolic insulation, fully bonded waterproof membrane, 18mm WBP board, 245mm timber engineered I-joists filled with mineral wool insulation. 9mm OSB board, airtightness layer, services zone (varies), 1x15mm plasterboard lining with skim finish or suspended ceiling in communal lobbies. U-value: 0.093

 

For more detailed contextual and technical informaiton of the project :

https://passivehouseplus.ie/magazine/new-build/mixed-use-london-scheme-d...

https://passivhausprojekte.de/index.php?lang=en#d_3820

 

Author(s) information

Name

Architects: Cartwright Pickard / Service engineers (M&E) & environmental design consultants: Atelier Ten

Address

1 Canal Side Studios 8–14 St Pancras Way London NW1 0QG

Email

mail@cartwrightpickard.com

Lessons learnt

The scheme demonstrates that it is possible to make Passivhaus affordable and achievable, even on challenging and constrained urban sites that might previously have been deemed unsuitable. The attractive brick finish and careful detailing demonstrates that eco-homes can be attractive, and don’t have to look ungainly or idiosyncratic. www.cartwrightpickard.com Passivhaus projects are often single dwellings on rural or semi-rural sites. Sulgrave Gardens represents a real step forward in bringing Passivhaus standards into common use in the UK. Its affordable and deliverable format is a model for higher density use in towns and cities, proving that Passivhaus dwellings are a viable proposition in urban locations that might previously have been deemed unsuitable. The attractive brick finish and careful detailing demonstrates that eco-homes can be attractive, and don’t have to look idiosyncratic or incongruous. As a practice we have always been interested in pushing the practical application of new technologies to create better buildings. Our offsite manufacture and lean design expertise was invaluable when dealing with the enhanced thermal and airtightness requirements on this scheme. We will be undertaking Building Performance Evaluation and occupier wellbeing surveys on this project. https://www.e-architect.co.uk/london/sulgrave-gardens-passivhauses

Award labels

Highlighted Case

Available link languages

English

Operational date

Sunday, 1 September, 2013

Relevant tools

References

https://passivehouseplus.ie/magazine/new-build/mixed-use-london-scheme-delivers-passive-at-scale
https://passivhausprojekte.de/index.php?lang=en#d_3820

Source of funding

Private

Funding description

Octavia Housing Not-for-profit organisation that provides thousands of people with affordable homes in inner London

Economic effect

Overall, as a very rough estimate, Octavia suggest that the initial assessment for extra costs to deliver passive house at Sulgrave Gardens was around half a million pounds on a £6 million contract – about 9%. “But the value of the contract went up, so we had to bite the bullet and pay more,” Callachan says. “However the contractor also had to absorb some extra cost, as did the architect. Effectively we all had to invest extra, but we all recognised this was R&D – an investment for future projects.”