Ecobuild, again!

Fran will be discussing retrofit using natural materials tomorrow, Thursday 7th March, at 14:15 part of the Refurnishing Britain seminar in Room 4. The session is titled 'Existing Dwellings: what should the retrofit standard be?' and it'll be chaired by Mark Elton. We hope you can come and join the discussion!

C404 raises money for garden planting

Funny and enjoyable Poetry and Music evening garden fundraiser at Centre 404, refurbished by ATA, in a delightfully sparkling hall on 10th November. We didn't win the raffle, but enjoyed ourselves. How much was raised? We are looking forward to the planting!

The Retro-Expo Awards 2012 report

Cath Jordan from Sanctuary Housing and Simon Thompson from Seddons, the contractors, joined Fran Bradshaw of ATA at the Retro-Expo awards on the 31st October, to celebrate 23 St Luke Street retrofit as a finalist for the Domestic Retrofit Project of the Year award.

This is the first year of the Expo Retro and the Awards, which were introduced by Birmingham City Councillor who reminded people what retrofit is doing in terms of making people's lives more comfortable as well as lowering energy bills.

Awards for innovation included a heat recovery Passivent system, and I was delighted that Penny Poysner - who introduced the AECB summer conference - and her partner Gill Sholom won the DECC pioneer award - for long term contribution to low carbon retrofit.

The AECB stall was buzzing as ever, and it was clearly the first ExpoRetro of many!

21st century homes event by the Highgate Society

On saturday I spoke about 'deep retrofit' at the 21st Century Homes event organised by the Highgate Society. A series of talks by experts included advice on all aspects of sustainable retrofit, the ones I heard were about boilers and solar hot water, about windows, about understanding the whole performance of the house, and they were extremely good and to the point. There were also stalls so that you could really look at insulation products, or different types of windows. When I arrived at midday on saturday the place was seething with people and humming with a busy exchange of ideas.

Apparently more than 200 visitors signed in at the event, and the following day, about 75 visits were made to local houses. Many of the visitors said they were about to embark on house projects and were actively seeking ideas and information, and that the event had been really useful to them.

This could be a great model for local areas, and it is inspiring that this organisiation, which is concerned about the quality of the historic buildings and environment is thinking so creatively about the future.

Fran

Gearing up for Open House London

This year ATA will have two buildings open to the public during the Open House London weekend taking place on 22nd-23rd September.

Eco-hub -  the centrepiece of the regeneration and transformation of the historic Lordship Recreation Grounds, which has been designed to exemplary sustainable standards, including community-built straw bale walls, timber foundations, green roof, MVHR and natural materials and finishes.

Centre 404 (pictured) - a newly refurbished and extended Victorian villa with a non-institutional feel, taking consideration of environmental factors and energy efficiency.The centre on Camden Road is home to a charity supporting people with learning difficulties and their families.

Watch this space, more details closer to the event!
Rute

Centre 404 awaits hot summer

The green Oak pergola is complete and the vine ready to grow across to produce the first year of Chateau Caledonia wine (name yet to be confirmed)!

And last month we had the pleasure of showing designer and photographer Amandine Alessandra around the building - have a look at some of her work in progress photos of Centre 404 on our website.

that time of year: ecobuild

Fran will be speaking at ecobuild on Wednesday 21st. You can catch her at the Sustainable Architecture & Design talk at 12:30, where she'll be talking about community regeneration and education and presenting ATA's project Lordship Park environment centre, alongside Paul Elly, policy and development manager oflordship recreation ground, LB Haringey.

Later on at 4:30 she'll be discussing the refurbishment of mid-terrace properties to Passivhaus standard using as example projects Hawthorn Road (London) and St Luke's Street (Stoke on Trent). Both talks will take place at south gallery 9 & 10.

Or can come and say hello to her and others at the AECB stand. And Junko will be at the Passivhaus stand (N64) from 2:00.

Happy ecobuilding!

you are doing a fabulous job, well done everyone!

The beginning of March saw the wider team at centre 404 - volunteers, staff and trustees, visit site to inspect progress.

Jean Wilson OBE, Chair of Centre 404 says:
I was SO excited to visit the building, it looks amazing, even better than I had visualised. Architects, builders and Amy, you are doing a FABULOUS job, well done everyone!

James Humber and Katy Anderson from the Learning and Leisure Team:
We are really excited to see how flexible and open the new activity spaces will be for all the members who come to our after school, evening and weekend clubs. There is so much more space that is multi-functional now and it will provide us with many opportunities to grow new and different services. Our members enjoyed the space before we moved out,  the team just can’t wait to see everyone come back into a fabulous new building!

And volunteers co-ordinator Carla Grauls was excited about the new garden room:
We can’t wait to get started with all the re-planting to bring our garden back to life, we will be busy looking at putting in some lovely pots on the new patios and planting lots of colourful flowers and climbers. Our garden volunteers have missed it so much and we are looking forward to coming back and having a nice garden room for our group to have lunch!

You can read more about the progress of the works on Centre 404's site diary blog.

the principles of retrofit

On 4th November Bob Prewett and Fran Bradshaw did a workshop for the Flash programme on 'The Principles of Retrofit'.

Delightfully organised for the RIBA by Emma Livingston Jones, at Bere Architects inspiring Mayville Community Centre, participants were lucky to be given a guided tour at the end, and even see inside the engine room - the most beautifully neat plant room!

The participants were asked to join in and do some hands-on calculating, measuring and guessing, and what a great response! It was fun, and all learnt lots about what's most useful for architects.

Another workshop - improved on the basis of what worked best - coming in the new year.

uncovering centre 404

Building work is under way on Centre 404 on Camden Road. At basement level, foundation for the new garden room have been excavated and old partitions taken down, uncovering the history and timeline of the building. We've found beautiful layers of old wallpaper, decorative tiles as well as old lath and paster work… as well as some less interesting, more recent additions!

We're thrilled about watching the building work progress - connecting the building to the garden, opening up the space and making Centre 404 more accessible to all.

refurbishment and extension to listed building in Stoke Newington

The major refurbishment and extension to 237 Stoke Newington Church Street has been completed. The Grade II listed building is part of the Clissold Park Conservation Area. ATA assisted Eaves Developments with all stages of Planning, Listed Building consent and detail design. Three stunning flats fronting onto the Park, and onto a beautiful garden at the rear, have been skilfully developed. Efficient boilers, internal insulation, solar panels and organic paints coexist with original fixtures on this mid-18th C house.

Current Building Research

Last week was a great opportunity to see different approaches to building research here in the UK and in Germany.

At Insite 11 at the BRE on 'Rethink Refurbishment' we participated in the Technology Strategy Board Low Carbon Retrofit workshop; nine brief contributions on different aspects of the 'Retrofit for the Future' projects, ours on using natural and breathable materials, all fascinating, and raising lots of questions.
The Innovation Zone featured some good ideas - it'd be good to hear more about the cellulose based aerogel insulation, if it gets taken up by a manufacturer. We hope so.


On Friday Ecological Building Systems organised  'Challenges and Solutions to Thermally Upgrading Existing Masonry Walls with Internal Insulation' Among other great talks, Dr Rudolph Plagge from The Institute of Building Climatology at Dresden University of Technology spoke in detail about the science behind working with existing buildings in a sympathetic way. He showed examples like the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where upgrading the building thermally and conserving the exquisite brickwork was undertaken so thoughtfully,  with research backup so that the Museum could be really confident of the effect of insulation on moisture travelling through walls, frost action, mould growth, and improved thermal performance. Several of us present at the workshop felt that there is a real need to develop further links with this research institution.

Green Sky Thinking

'Green Sky Thinking' took off this week with breakfast launch in splendour at Carlton House Terrace, home of the Royal College of Pathologists - as Paul Morrell pointed out in his address, their strapline 'the science behind the cure' is entirely appropriate to describe our work.
It then moved (I hope significantly) nearer Westminster to the Energy Saving Trust, focussing on 'Engaging People in the Retrofit process'  where Peter Rickerby introduced the Institute for Sustainablility retrofit guide sequence. These look as if they are going to be really useful, obtainable through the FLASH programme.

I and Matt Bush from Metropolitan Housing Trust spoke about joint 'Retrofit for the Future' and other projects, and getting residents to get the best out of low energy houses through understanding how the building works. The design of heating controls seems like a perfect challenge for some really creative 'green skies thinking'.
FB

Inside Housing Discusses the Realities of Retrofit Roll-Out

There's been so much interest in our Retrofit for the Future projects which is fantastic as reducing CO2 emissions and increasing comfort and fuel security in our existing housing stock is a prescient issue.

Inside Housing focused this week on some of the pragmatic issues, and the issue of the sheer numbers of dwellings that need to be improved.

Read Full Article Here...

Passivhaus and Retro-fit Scheme Submitted for Planning

ATA have submitted Passivhaus and retro-fit scheme to Dan Leno house in the conservation area for Planning

ATA have submitted their new housing scheme following the consultations with the local residents in the conservation area.
The scheme includes three new-build houses and sustainable, low carbon refurbishment & retrofit to existing adjoined terrace houses that will create 5 new flats.   Dan Leno (1860–1904) an English music hall comedian lived in one of the houses. There is a blue plaque.
The Existing street comprises a number of styles of architecture from mid 19th Century to 21st Century. The variety of houses in different floor heights and window lines, mainly in blocks of four, gives the street an interesting, varied appearance and rhythm. The new buildings respect the qualities of craftsmanship and human scale. ATA have maximised the thermal performance in the new houses to provide good quality on the inside as well.

The Secret Millionaire Visits Centre 404!

Centre 404 was featured on Channel 4's The Secret Millionaire programme. The money donated from the secret millionaire will continue to fund the centre's Juniors Club for the next year and a special event for the  family carers.


The centre has also been fundraising hard to get the building refurbished and disability access incorporated.  ATA are working with Centre 404 to create a more accessible new basement floor with new garden room, level access reception, accessible lift to all floors, changing places facilities and level access to their beautiful garden, which is why the fund raising is so important!

Centre 404 is a centre for carers of children with learning disabilities and works towards building a community and a society where people with learning disabilities are valued. 

Over the years Centre 404 has built vital services within the borough of Islington that have enabled children and adults with a learning disability and their carers to have a voice and to access community activities and support.

Innsbruck Inspiration!

ATA's Jennie Swain was at the 15th International Passivhaus Conference in Innsbruck on the 25-29th May. An inspirational conference, people, architecture, lots to digest....really interesting presentations on retrofit and cost effective passivhaus, and even a passivhaus cattle auction building!
Watch this space for Jennie's review and pictures from the Austrian Passivhaus building visits......


In the meantime, great blogs here on the conference by fellow UK passivhaus architects Jonathan Hines of Architype and Mark Elton of ECD

Tenant Feedback from Stoke Retrofit so far...

The tenants for the Stoke-On-Trent retrofit for the future project that Anne Thorne Architects carried out with Sanctuary Housing have given us some really interesting feedback from life living in their house so far. The house will be monitored for energy use and comfort conditions, and just as significant the recording of the tenant's views and experiences of living in the house.

"After our first two months here, we love our eco-house, and enjoy living here, and it’s good to feel environmentally responsible without having to make vast lifestyle changes."

Some really good feedback in living in a house with a heat recovery ventilation system, and feedback that we will move to improve on in future schemes and retrofits.

The tenants were involved along the design process, from the technical specification of the house and insulation levels, as well as choosing pain colours and finishes for their new home.

ATA seeks to gain feedback from completed buildings through our work with researchers to ensure we have detailed information on building performance, and can learn from it....!

Read more on the project blog here

Low Carbon Tricks for Old Bricks

"Traditional buildings: adapting for a low carbon future" was a very well attended conference with a great programme of speakers explored this issuing surrounding traditional buildings and techniques and desicussion around how you provide significant reductions in energy use, whilst remaining sympathetic to the character and fabric of our historic buildings.

Actual monitored U-Values of existing stone walls, limecrete floor construction, ventilation to existing buildings, and the possibility for renewables were all on the agenda.

Jennie of ATA spoke on behalf of the Passivhaus Trust, and as a Certified Passivhaus Designer and her experience of applying the Passivhaus Enerphit standards to our existing UK housing stock using natural insulation materials and breathing wall construction. To view Jennie's presentation, click here.

The joint conference was held by Cumbria Action for Sustainability, The North of England Civic Trust and the Churches Trust for Cumbria.

Click here for more details

Edwardian Terrace Retrofit BD Article published

Amanda Birch has written a great article in Building Design magazine on our Retrofit for the Future project for Metropolitan Housing Trust. ATA modeled the existing house using the Passivhaus Planning Package that enabled us to design and retrofit high levels of insulation and air-tightness to dramatically reduce the energy consumption of the building for heating, giving 80% reduction in the buildings carbon emissions.

Read full article here...