About
Welcome to the ecoterrace web site. This site will chart the progress of a live project in Newcastle-Under-Lyme to demonstrate how existing Victorian terrace properties can be refurbished to today’s housing standards.
Our goal is to radically improve the the energy performance of the properties and provide environmentally friendly, well designed accommodation using techniques and principles that could be repeated on other properties of a similar nature. To meet the reduction in carbon emissions that the housing industry recognizes it must achieve, it is vital we improve the performance of existing properties, rather than focus solely on new build schemes.
Design
To improve the energy performance and quality of space, we are investigating the benefits of passive solar architecture techniques. By using the natural energy gains from the sun, we hope to create a key environmental improvement that is less reliant on short lived technology and creates better room layouts.
The ecoterrace proposal was prepared for a competitive tender to refurbish six terrace properties to a high environmental specification. The design concept was presented to the jury in 3 stages, each expanded on in a blog entry here on the web site. Click on the links below to read more:
- A generic solution to typical terraced house type problems, to improve their energy performance and market attractiveness.
- Proposals for the wider urban context of rear alleyways and streets formed by such house types
- The specific application of the principles from above to two selected houses, owned and available for this project.
During the detailed development of the project we took the project a step further and introduced a post-occupancy monitoring program that will test how the design choices we make actually perform. Visit the energy section of the site to learn more about how we intend to assess the properties.
News
Updates about the latest project developments can be found in the ‘blog’ section of the site. A blog - or weblog - is a diary of events that can be followed either here on the site or by using freely available software called a newsreader. If you’d like to follow the project using this method you can subscribe to the news with this link: ecoterrace newsfeed.
Photographs of the building progress will be captured using phonecams and shown live on the web site. The image to the right is the latest photo.
Visit the blog and build sections of the site to start following the project.