Little boxes made of ticky tacky... it may have been a good refrain and a fair indictment of a nation's love of bricks and mortar, but today's house builders are challenging the stereotype by using more inventive materials and building methods at both ends of the eco spectrum.
Bellway Homes is nearing completion on The Hamsterley, a Georgian-style polystyrene kit house which John Watson, their chief executive, describes as "a glamorous prefab that is here to stay". He adds: "We like to explore new technologies. This is a potential revolution in British housing and in building this house, the first of its kind in the country, we are demonstrating the possibilities from this unique design through to delivery."
The five-bedroom property is the first traditional-look, factory-built sectional house made of polystyrene and steel for sale in the UK. Its lightweight steel frame, clad externally with light but extremely strong insulating panels, makes it highly energy-efficient.
The polystyrene house may have an SAP (standard assessment procedures) rating of 100 per cent, but some builders prefer greener materials. Richard Scales and Ralph Carpenter of Modece Architects worked on a hemp house in Haverhill, Suffolk and have mixed views on the use of polystyrene. Mr Scales says: "There are some benefits, because it's energy efficient, but it's not green. It's using material derived from oil, which is unsustainable because fossil fuel will one day run out."
The material used to create the hemp house will never run out if the project takes off. Ralph Carpenter's inspiration came from a visit to France, where he first saw hemp being used in construction. He convinced Suffolk Housing Society and St Edmundsbury council to lead a trial to discover whether hemp is a suitable building material. The hemp houses have been built beside traditional brick-and-block constructions, and insulation, soundproofing, structural ability, resistance to moisture and condensation will be monitored to make comparisons.
Encouragingly for architects such as Mr Scales, large-scale developers are interested in the hemp house, but he accepts the use of greener materials on a mass scale may take time. "Most of the industry is locked into bricks and blocks, because that's the way their operatives are used to working and understand. If you start using different materials then that jacks the price up as they can't do it without thinking, which seems to cost more."
Ultimately the hemp project may revive a crop that used to be grown extensively in Britain, but it should be pointed out that, unlike its notorious cousin, hemp used in construction has no hallucinatory qualities.
Steve Clarke, Suffolk Housing Society's chief executive, says: "We are hoping that it will make a significant contribution to finding a more environmentally friendly way to create new homes."
At present, innovative building projects inevitably cost more than traditional methods, but this may change. Initially the hemp house was considered expensive, although it may prove cheaper in the long term.
One building in north London has proved it is possible to produce a cost-effective construction that is also sustainable. Number 9 Stock Orchard Street, designed by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects, is partly built with straw bales. Architects Sarah Wigglesworth and Jeremy Till, who live and work in the house, say: "The building pays attention, as we believe every building should, to issues of environment. Materials are chosen for their low embodied energy: straw bales, recycled concrete and sandbags."
The straw-bale house is a good example of research by design in a project featuring the first approved use of this material in the UK, although there is a growing straw-bale movement in the US, and its benefits are many. Straw costs £1.50p per bale delivered to central London, is widely available, easy to build with and provides good thermal insulation because it "breathes".
The architects installed the bales with friends and family. Standard practice is to render the bales on both sides, but here the architects have clad the building on the outside with a rain screen. Having ensured the walls are carefully detailed to keep out vermin and water – "both things that would otherwise lead to a short life", they add. "The tension between the roughness of the bales and the sleek exterior of the cling-film sheathing disturbs the normal architectural categories, uniting the slick with the hairy."
The straw bale house, 9 Stock Orchard St, London N7, is open to the public on 24 March, 2.30pm-4pm. Adults £3, children £1.50. Caledonian Road 1/4. Credits: Copyright © 2002, Independent Digital. All rights reserved.
Ginetta Vedrickas, Independent Digital
Saturday, March 2, 2002 |