Top floors for award-winning Tarmac EarthDome

Edited by the Buildingtalk editorial team Jul 23, 2004

Tarmac Topfloor has installed hollowcore and FastFloor beam and block flooring, plus precast concrete stairs at pioneering EarthDome project.

Tarmac Topfloor, one of the UK's leading suppliers of precast concrete flooring, has installed hollowcore and FastFloor beam and block flooring, plus precast concrete stairs at the pioneering EarthDome project in Merton, south London.

Tarmac has helped co-sponsor this EarthDome Eco Development which consists of four new apartments within an environmentally groundbreaking building that is the capital's very first domestic geothermal development.

The project is supported by the THB (Traditional Housing Bureau), and the man behind the initiative is Bob Harris, a lecturer in eco-building at a London college, who designed the building using precast concrete flooring to maximise the thermal mass as part of the overall energy saving concept.

Commenting on the project, Bob Harris says, "EarthDome is tremendously exciting, enabling me to put all my years of theory into practice.

It is great to have Topfloor involved in the project - their technical expertise and product design have played a crucial role in the construction process." "Topfloor's FastFloor T-beams were particularly well-suited to the project, with their thin cross sectional area and the nature of the reinforcement which mitigates against it taking up the electrical field of the house wiring.

The thermal mass and energy efficiency of the project will be monitored by Kingston University as part of a two-year research programme." The building's hot water and heating is provided by ground source heat pumps from natural ground heat, and combined with other elements such as high thermal mass and high levels of insulation, this will deliver ultra energy efficient apartments.

Other design considerations incorporated include designing out allergies, technologically advanced steps that Bob has converted from the theoretical into reality.

In recognition of the building's cutting edge status, Bob Harris has picked up a prestigious Green Apple Environmental Award, organised by The Green Organisation, an independent, non-profit environment group dedicated to recognising and promoting environmental best practice.

EarthDome was chosen as "British Green Champion - top of its class for Fuel Power and Energy".