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Victorian house given £330,000 eco makeover
Mark Prigg, Science Correspondent02.02.09
The first tenants have moved into one of the greenest homes in London.
The Victorian council house in Camden has been fitted with £330,000 of green gadgets and measures to save energy and cut emissions.
If the occupiers manage to cut their bills, the council will extend the initiative across the borough. The five-bedroom house has solar panels on the roof to provide power and an advanced air-conditioning system to lower heating costs.
It has high levels of draught proofing and windows that are designed to be 20per cent better at retaining heat than current building regulations.
The property also boasts heat recovery ventilation to warm incoming fresh air and rainwater harvesting for use in the garden.
Council bosses say emissions from the house are now 80 per cent lower and it will save residents hundreds of pounds in bills.
Mr Habib Ali, who has moved into the house with his family, said they had already noticed major improvements.
He said: "In our previous flat the heating used to escape a lot. The fact that the house has insulated walls and draught proofing means that it stays warm for longer.
"Overall the main idea is to reduce carbon emissions and ultimately reduce our utility bills. So that is something that I am looking forward to."
The Ali family volunteered to spend a year in the house, built in 1850, with their energy usage being monitored.
A researcher from University College London will help with the monitoring.
The house was initially built to show residents what technologies they can add to their homes. It proved hugely popular, with more than 1,800 people visiting the Camden Eco House in the three months it was open last year.
However, council chiefs decided that to track the savings made by the house, they needed a family to move in.
If the trial is successful Camden plans to roll out features to all its 7,000 terrace council homes.
Chris Naylor, executive member for homes and housing strategy, said: "The home has been refurbished to a very high standard.
"I'm delighted we now have a family here to benefit from this investment - what we learn here will help us cut emissions and fuel poverty in all our homes across the borough."
The refurbishment was funded by grants and sponsorship from government, the council and firms specialising in eco-friendly construction. The overall cost of the refurbishment was about £330,000, including costs for major repairs and structural works.
A spokesman for London Councils said it was monitoring the trial with a view to rolling out similar schemes across the capital.
"Boroughs are working very closely with the GLA and a range of other partners to look at ways of reducing carbon emissions and helping residents save money on their fuel bills."
What's behind the green door?
Insulation: floor, roof and internal wall insulation fitted wherever needed at a cost of £12,000
Windows: good-quality double glazing means windows are 20 per cent better at retaining heat
Draught proofing: every area, including loft access, is draught proofed as much as possible
Internal heat recovery: uses “smart ventilation” to recycle the heat from the outgoing stale air and re-use it in the incoming clean air
Drainage: rainwater is collected for use in the garden
Reader views (7)
Navigating the maze of marketing materials for the greener of new-build homes can be quite a bewildering business. Code for Sustainable Homes level this? Code for Sustainable Homes level that? Eco Homes Excellent? Or Very Good? For the average homebuyer who fancies himself or herself as an environmentalist, it can be hard to know exactly what it all means.
A growing number of buyers have decided that the best approach to going green is to give draughty and badly insulated older houses a makeover, rather than to buy new ones. They are discovering that excellent results can be achieved — and often for modest sums.
Pedro Joaquin Sanchez Belmar
- Pedro Joaquin Sanchez Belmar, London UK
300k+ seems a bit too steep and maybe the promoters of this house would give us a breakdown to see what are the major items of expenditure.. I am almost sure not all the funding went on energy saving devices or this project ought to be treated as a prototype with next lot working out much cheaper!! otherwise nobody will spend 300k to make their homes energy efficient..
- Hal-Luke Savas, United Kingdom
Nobby: "Air-con is now eco-friendly?". I'm 99% sure that what is meant by air-con is what is technically known as mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. In the right place this is eco-friendly - basically you create an [almost] sealed house, extract warm air from bathrooms and kitchens, take the heat from this air and use it to heat incoming air which is fed into living rooms at a controlled rate. But it's a waste of time and money unless the house is much better sealed than most are.
But the wider points made here stand: anything is possible given the money, but spending £30K? to "save residents hundreds of pounds in bills" really doesn't make a lot of sense.
- Tonyb, Melbourne, Australia
Get it right. £330k has not been spent to save a few quid on heating - that includes the major repairs and structural works. According to Camden's website, funding for eco works included £12,000 for insulation from Kingspan, £12,500 from Low Carbon Programme for solar PV and £5,000 from Sustainable Energy Academy. Sadly, some people just like to moan.
- Austen, London
Hmm, so £330,000 is spent to save maybe £2,000 worth of heat and power a year. That's a payback period of 165 years. And they want to do this to 7,000 more homes? That would cost £2.3 billion. Forgive me if I'm less than impressed.
And what's a satellite dish doing on the ground floor balcony with a wire going to the basement? For around £100 of the £330,000 they could have hidden the dish and run the wire inside. Who is controlling the tail wagging this dog?
- Rupert Rg, Brighton, East Sussex
Air-con is now eco-friendly?
The only con here is the one pulled on the unsuspecting owners of this pile, who think that spending £330k to save a few quid on heating is a wise investment.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland
...words fail me.
- Jules_London, london
