What is a Contemporary Home in 2024, MESH Energy Talk

Darren was invited by MESH Energy to present the talk ‘What is a contemporary home going to look like in 2024’ earlier this month, looking at our projects to discuss and explain the current trends we are seeing in the design of sustainable homes.

As a business we believe in using architecture to create sustainable homes, we understand that ethically and morally it is our responsibility as architects to use design to make contemporary houses that are kind to our clients, the surroundings and the planet. To build a new build house can produce up to 31% more embodied carbon than refurbishing an existing structure, which is why as a business we believe in reusing and reimagining existing dwellings where it is possible. Throughout the design process we have energy efficiency at the forefront of our minds, by adopting a fabric first approach, following Passivhaus principles and feeding as many of the UN sustainability development goals into each of our projects.

At our Brockenhurst project the clients were pushing the sustainable approach from the onset. At the early stages of the design process, we collaborated with MESH Energy to get an Energy Strategy Planning report done on the existing structure which was an extremely useful report which informed the design solution for the home and also offered the client a helpful breakdown of upfront costs compared to annual savings.

The project is currently progressing well on site, the work includes a contemporary rear extension that ties into the garden, key energy efficiency solutions include full over cladding, new triple glazed Internorm windows, insulation upgrade to walls and roof and addressing overheating concerns with sun shading introduced over large glazing in the garden.

It is always a challenge to push the sustainable agenda on clients, as this does have an impact on the budget but it is important to be able to show the initial costs and highlight the potential savings and impact. Understandable a major challenge on all refurbishment projects in the issue with VAT, many find it difficult to justify a refurbishment if they can save having to pay 20% VAT with a new build home. Interestingly, we have worked with some savvy clients who have deliberately purchased houses that have been empty, as there is often a clause that can get the VAT reduced down to around 5% for homes that have been unoccupied for many years.

When working with existing buildings things are not straightforward, clients need to be passionate about the sustainable agenda to move these projects forward. We have also found that working with good builders in very important, we try to recommend builders who will stick to the drawings and specification, especially if we are not retained onsite during the build, to ensure the completed home is as energy efficient as it was designed.

Our Burley house is unfortunately a structure that is past its best, so on this occasion we have looked to rebuild with an upgraded structure. Architecturally the replacement dwelling is contemporary vernacular, drawn from the natural agricultural aesthetic of the surrounding area. Sitting on a long and skinny plot, the house is arranged around a series of courtyards that connect with the landscape, brings in natural daylight, ventilation and offer shading.

Designed to be constructed from cross laminate walls and roof touch, the home will touch the ground lightly by sitting on screw piles, without a need for concrete foundations, reducing the impact to the landscape and allow trees and planting to be conserved on site.

You can hear the full webinar here, or get in touch to discuss your next project with us.

Collaborative Process Exhibition

Last week we hosted our first exhibition, held at the awesome God’s House Tower in the heart of the old town of Southampton. The show was in part a celebration of Studio BAD’s 4th anniversary, and in part a commemoration of our collaborative process of working. The show looked at some of the key projects for our practice, past, present and future, that have been uniquely shaped by the way we work.

The show was a huge success, over the weekend we were honoured to welcomed over 300 people to the show. On the Saturday night we hosted a special drinks reception, a moment to stop, reflect and celebrate with our friends, colleagues and collaborators.

We worked with Reading University architectural students to create a centrepiece for the exhibition. We gave a design brief to design and build a prototype temporary ‘room within a room’ to sit within large internal spaces, as you often find within churches. The idea was to create a structure that can be used as a private space, to hold meetings, private contemplation or just to create a more comfortable, space smaller in scale.

The prototype device was built in-situ within God’s House Tower, creating a wonderfully warm room, which we have nicknamed the ‘Bishops Hat’ due to the overall space and detailing. Crafted from chip board with a Perspex window, laid out in a simple cross shape, the design offers a small scale room which is designed to fit comfortably within a church environment.

We would like to thank our sponsors of the event, University of Reading, Arts Committee, Eckersley O’Callaghan, Mesh Energy, Bentley SIPS Systems and Muse Coffee (who have defiantly fuelled this exhibition!) without all their support we could not have gone ahead with the event. We would also like to thank God’s House Tower; the team have been so helpful and the space is beautiful and so versatile.

Finally, we would like to thank the whole of the Studio BAD collaborative team, you can find the list of our team here, each and everyone has shaped the practice.  Studio BAD is a rich tapestry of all our skills, experience and heritage, the company has thrived from our collaborative approach and I could not be prouder of what we have all achieved together.

St Margaret’s Church Film

Working with the brilliant team at E&J Videography, we have put together a short film detailing our St Margaret’s Church. In the video we discuss the design and the concept behind it, by talking to key members of the team from all aspects of the church – management, end user and of course the design team.

St Margaret's Church Film

MESH Energy Panel Discussion

Challenges to retrofitting the UK housing stock

I was invited to join the panel of experts for the recent MESH Energy discussion, looking at the challenges we are all facing when retrofitting the UK housing stock. The aim of the session was to understand how we could adapt the current housing stock in the UK, to tackle the fuel crisis and to reach the critical net-zero targets.

There were some interesting questions, including: What role do you think architects have when it comes to retrofitting the UK housing stock in light of the fuel crisis? Can you explain the difficulties when considering embodied carbon in retrofitting of buildings? We know retrofitting can provide an influx of new jobs, but how can we bridge the skill gap? If you were in change of the political retrofit, what would you priorities?

I was joined by three brilliant experts, each at the forefront of their specific area of the sustainable sector, so it was a great discussion to have with some interesting input from each person.

  • Graham Hendra, an independent heat pump consultant with over a decade in the renewables sector specialising in air to water heat pumps.
  • Jenny Wallace, Operations Director at MESH Energy, with over a decade of practical experience in the energy industry consultancy.
  • Graham Lock, founder of Low Carbon Homes a nationwide independent retrofit network.

The discussion was hosted on MESHWorks, the free community hub that brings together sustainably conscious members across the design, architecture, built environment. If this is an area of interest to you it is well worth looking into, details can be found here. 

MESH Energy are independent building performance consultants who I have had the pleasure of working with them on multiple projects, most recently when looking at sustainable energy solutions for St Margaret’s Church refurbishment. It was a privilege to be asked to be part of this event, as it is such an important topic and so central to Studio BAD’s company ethos of reuse.

The watch can be viewed here. 

The benefits of reusing and repurposing existing buildings

Recently I was invited to take part in the MESH energy webinar series where I talked about the benefits of upgrading and repurposing existing buildings. At a time where the conversation around the environment and climate change is happening across society as a whole, I am always surprised that the design sector is not discussing this issue in more detail and facing it head on with positive solutions.

We have been working on several varied projects that are reusing a current building. Just by looking at the statistics from Historic England, it is astonishing how damaging it is to build a new building when there is an alternative and environmentally better solution.

‘Compared to a refurbishing a traditional Victorian terrace, a new building of the same size produces up to 13 times more embodied carbon. This equates to around 16.4 tonnes of CO2 which is the equivalent of the emissions released by driving 60,000km’

The design approach to repurposing a building is quite different, each project will bring its own challenges and a successful refurbishment is able to turn these into opportunities. Within our ‘October Books’ project, which has repurposed an old high street bank into a community book store, it was not possible to remove the old walk in vault from the building so this was integrated into the interior design and is now used as the storage room with the old door kept in place as a feature behind the service counter.

Our St Margaret’s church project in Southsea, Portsmouth, is nearing completion of Phase 1 of their refurbishment, thermal upgrade, extension and repurpose to deliver a church that could meet the needs of its congregation. The building had no central heating installed, to retrofit this we decided the best solution was an air sourced heat pump and trench underfloor heating, laid in zones across the building. This solution gave us full flexibility across the floor space which was essential for this building. In keeping with the need for internal flexibility we have designed ‘mean-while’ solutions such as seating, screens and even a café on wheels, this allows the interior of the church to be configured and used as the community needs, with future proofing the design and also reducing the costs.

As we had to remove the old parquet flooring, to allow for the underfloor heating and a polished concrete floor, we were delighted that we were able to repurpose it and sell it on. Not only is this environmentally positive but it also raised much needed funds for the church building project.

In each project we believe the key to success has been achieved through two way communications, through deep listening we are able to really understand what people are saying which often unlocks the potential to a space.

The full webinar can be viewed here

‘If you help one person, you help humanity’ Ai Weiwei