Product category:
Building Energy Efficiency and Sustainability
News Release from: BRE | Subject: Hanson House 2
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 21 May 2007
Hanson House 2 - new twist on
21st-century living
Hanson, is turning conventional living on its head at OFFSITE2007, with its revolutionary Hanson House 2
Building materials giant, Hanson, is turning conventional living on its head at OFFSITE2007, with its revolutionary Hanson House 2 - a concrete/masonry dwelling that swaps the traditional positions of living rooms and bedrooms to deliver a naturally ventilated home designed to cope with 21st-century climate conditions The three-bed detached Hanson House 2 has been constructed at BRE's Watford headquarters alongside Hanson House 1, which was erected for OFFSITE2005
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 2 Oct 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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The neighbours will clearly demonstrate progress made in the past two years.
In particular, the new house was planned in the context of the Government's voluntary Code for Sustainable Homes (introduced in December 2006).
And HH2 refines the innovations in offsite fabrication shown in HH1 which, together with thermal mass and natural ventilation, assist in achieving the zero carbon target that housebuilders and developers will have to meet by 2016.
Further reading
Free BRE Energy-efficient Refurbishment Seminars
BRE is running a series of free seminars for building control officers, architects, local authorities and housing associations on energy-efficient refurbishment.
Meeting The Demands Of A Sustainability Brief
Two, half-day seminars are being organised by BRE to provide developers, clients, designers and contractors with an overview of the principles of sustainable construction.
Unlocking innovation
The Innovation Discovery Programme helps construction industry companies gain greater commercial success.
The most significant difference since 2005 is that HH2 has been specifically designed to mitigate the impact of the warmer, wetter weather that climate change is predicted to create in the UK.
"Our OFFSITE2007 house focuses on occupant comfort in the changing UK climate," says Gerry Feenan of Hanson.
"It is important to balance the benefits of solar gain during the winter with minimising overheating in the summer".
"Hanson House 2 tackles both issues by employing high thermal mass, coupled with a natural ventilation system and a radical rethink of living spaces to deliver comfortable summertime conditions." The principle design feature is a ventilating roof lantern that is used to enhance natural air currents by means of the 'stack effect', i.e warmed indoor air rises and escapes through the ventilating roof lantern, which opens and closes as required to meet prevailing weather patterns.
To take full advantage of this, bedrooms are provided on the slightly cooler ground floor, with the living room, dining room and kitchen provided on the warmer first floor.
The rather unusual shape of the roof is further emphasised by vertically run zinc sheeting; and stack-bonded brickwork completes the building's distinctive appearance.
As with Hanson House 1 the main structure uses masonry panels manufactured off-site in a controlled, factory environment.
This brings the benefits of high quality and speed of construction coupled with little or no site waste.
(On-site construction typically incurs 20% wastage, and also tends to be more susceptible to weather-related delays and difficulties.) "We're delighted to welcome Hanson back to OFFSITE this year," says Jaya Skandamoorthy, Director of Innovation, BRE.
"This second-generation building incorporates many of the features we will need in the changing UK climate".
"It's particularly interesting in the way that it uses a traditional concrete/masonry construction to take advantage of the benefits of high thermal mass, which helps to even out the temperature extremes of summer".
"Equally, because it is also highly insulated, it will remain warmer for longer in the colder months of winter".
HH2 also features a wide range of leading-edge sustainable products, including:.
- high-performance windows with three-layered, argon-filled glazing.
- high-performance external doors.
- sophisticated wall coatings.
- solar panels.
- provision for the installation of a disabled lift platform.
- smart building technologies for the remote operation of heating, lighting, energy monitoring, security provision.
- an interactive web-based hub that enables full community support for health, education, welfare and leisure.
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