Our project for a Passivhaus in Scarborough, North Yorkshire is making great construction progress with excavations now completed to its sandstone hillside site.
Work will soon begin on the insulated ground floor slab and then the innovative insulated concrete formwork (ICF) wall system achieving a next-generation level of thermal performance for the sustainable home.
The hillside site of this Passivhaus plays a key role in earth sheltering the home, a key part of the high-performance home’s design. The submerged sides of the home will lose heat at a slower rate to those exposed to the air due to the high density and thermal mass of earth. The home’s hillside will also protect the project from harsh winter wind and rain keeping the project as low maintenance as possible.
When completed Scarborough Passivhaus will be a showcase in the future of sustainable living with a building so thermally efficient that central heating becomes unnecessary, with the heat of the sun, the home’s users and a small living space wood-burner providing more than enough energy to heat the home.
This eco-home will also integrate a large solar array providing on-site electricity as well as battery storage for the home lowering the home's reliance on the grid to a minimum. A sophisticated heat recovering ventilation system will ensure great quality fresh air and heat to all areas of the home whilst minimising the cost of keeping the home warm.
The home also has a coherent passive solar strategy of thermally massive floors optimally exposed to the sun with a central stack ventilation atrium pulling air up through the heart of the home.
