Case study detail
17 St Augustine's Road
Low Energy Victorian House Project
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Sustainable Development Commission
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Pre-1919 local authority owned semi-detached Victorian house in conservation area. Aim to reduce carbon emissions by up to 90% whilst being sympathetic to the heritage.
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Overview
The Low Energy Victorian House Project, led by Camden Council, aims at refurbishing a solid wall semi-detached Victorian house located in a conservation area to achieve a 90% reduction in the house’s carbon emissions. This project will result in low energy social housing for a large family, as there is a shortage of this dwelling type in most of the councils’ housing stock.
It also attempts to preserve some of the house’s most important heritage features.
The sustainable refurbishment programme:
The house has solid brick walls and an uninsulated roof. The ground, first and second floors window openings are originally single glazed timber sash, whilst the basement has modern timber framed single glazed windows. Most frames are in good condition apart from the paintwork.
As far as the doors are concerned, the entrance front door is original solid main timber framed, internal doors are original, the basement flat has a modern half glazed entrance door, and modern timber glazed doors to rear garden.
The front and flank elevations have painted render with decorative mouldings around the windows. Indoors, the rooms are decorated with valued internal finishes, including plasterwork.
The project sought to conserve many of these existing features and a number of options were considered of the house during the preparatory workshops, especially regarding windows and insulation work.
Pros and cons regarding both heritage value and energy saving measures were discussed among the project’s stakeholders. However, the tension between the building conservation and energy saving could not be totally resolved.
A range of measures was agreed upon, which emphasised energy saving and maintenance concerns and the construction work is scheduled to start before December 2007. Their projected U-values and their purchase and installation estimated cost are given below:
| Measure | U-Values (W/m²K | Cost(£)* |
| Double Glazed windows | 1.5 | 500 |
| Floor | 0.20 | |
| Sloping roof | 0.11 | |
| Flat roof | 0.20 | |
| Wall insulation | 0.20 | Material donated by Kingspan |
| Solar thermal panels | 8,000 | |
| Solar PV panels | 31,500 | Localised heat exchange ventilation | 2,000 |
* Those are the estimated additional costs to part L requirements, and do not include consultancy and fee charges (+25%)
Considerations about future maintenance are taken into account and, wherever it is possible, the fixings will be chosen to be as user friendly as possible.
Other technologies were been considered but were rejected for the following reasons:
- Budget: The incremental benefits of triple glazing system were not judged significant enough to justify its additional up-front cost. The idea of installing a 3,000 litre rainwater harvesting tank was abandoned for a similar reason.
- Space: The house did not present enough space to install a ground source heat pump, and low environmental impact wood-wool insulation has been abandoned because of its thickness that would have further reduced the available living space.
- Planning and conservation regulations: the over cladding of the side and rear of the house did not receive planning clearance.
Research and dissemination:
The project also provides an opportunity to research, experiment and report on the outcomes of the various fittings implemented to rehabilitate the house. The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment (UCL) is undertaking an academic survey of the whole project.
Features such as temperature, humidity in walls, pressure and co-heating test and fuel use will be monitored until winter 2008. Access of the monitoring team to the various meters and data will be part of the tenancy agreement.
To evaluate the overall improvement of the building, it will be monitored after its refurbishment and during habitation. The collected data will be compared with the average performance of an un-refurbished house of the same street whose fabric will be similar to the 17St Augustine’s.
The Camden Council has also established a steering group of key stakeholders to discuss and debate the implementation and outcomes of the project.
Funding:
London Borough of Camden provides the core funding of the project to bring the house back to use as a large council house. The Energy Centre for Sustainable Communities is also providing financial support to the project.
Research and dissemination of the monitored results and analysis are conducted by the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment (UCL) and funded by the Urban Buzz.
Partners:
London Borough of Camden
Landers Associates
Energy Centre for Sustainable Communities
ParityProjects
Urban Buzz
University College London
Contact
Chit Chong
Energy & Sustainability Manager (Acting)
Housing & Adult Social Care Department
London Borough of Camden
Bidborough House, 20 Mabledon Place,
London
WC1H 9BF
Tel: +44 (0)207 974 3014
E-mail: chit.chong@camden.gov.uk
Key features
energy
materials
regeneration
Key data
Project Team:
Cost:
Local Authority: London Borough of Camden
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