Any one had experience with this type of house refurb ?

Not sure where to put this and since it's all sciency i stuck it here

I thought this was an interesting project for Gateshead council .Basically i am currently working on a new type of refurbishment for Gateshead council .This was government funded for six properties and apparently the first in the country for this use of passivhaus type construction methods .
It involves taking 2 semi detached council owned properties,adding 300mm of insulation to the exterior brickwork ,new doors and windows with no ventilation all the doors and windows sealed airtight to the bricks as are all the waste pipes that normally exit through the walls ,mechanical ventilation system installed in the loft and solar heating panels set in the roof .The house is then preassure tested to ensure that everything is airtight

Although this type of construction is used in germany and sweden it is rarely used in this country and i was told never before for refurbishments ,however the cost to refurbish one property is £75,000 ...and thats before the kitchen and bathroom get installed so i think it will be a while before it is adopted as a standard

The benefits are vastly reduced heating bills no need for radiators,dust free air and absolutley no draughts and the carbon footprint is reduced to a mere toe

Although better suited to new build homes i think it is a good thing that this country is experimenting with new construction techniques and bringing ourselves upto date

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These sort of things are becoming more common, especially for new build where it is more practical for energy efficiency measures to be incorporated into the construction. Indeed trying to prevent air loss and use heat recovery systems for ventilation is becoming common place and will be promoted by the Building Regulations. I've heard of some builders having issues where a property is sufficiently air tight that ceilings started to crack due to the suction of air as the entrance door is closed! We're also seeing an increased use of panel and system type building rather than brick and block walls so as to achieve the high insulation standards demanded today.

But I have to question whether it is value for money to go to such extremes on exiting build refurbs. For that sort of money one could expect to bring up to scratch multiple houses. Indeed when I worked for one local authority a few years ago I was asked quite pointedly by the new broom housing team manager if the money I'd just spent on one home was good value. I agreed it was not, yet it was the council's own policies that had separately identified and budgeted energy efficiency measures funding on top of normal building works. This is in fact the sort of short sighted policy that occurs when people just think in terms of meeting certain targets withut considering reasonableness.

I'm often asked on house surveys whether they should follow the advice on an Energy Performance Certificate to replace a boiler for a modern type when the existing 10 year old standard fan assited flue boiler is working fine. Simple economics dictate that at a probable cost of £3000 for the boiler (including alterations to pipes fo the new connections, radiator bits and bobs and other sundries), it's going to take a long long while to get a payback from saved gas bills. I know boilers should be serviced regularly (many are not), but if yoiu are going to get the full potential of these new things then you need to factor in annual servicing too.

Originally Posted by Rob

But I have to question whether it is value for money to go to such extremes on exiting build refurbs. For that sort of money one could expect to bring up to scratch multiple houses. Indeed when I worked for one local authority a few years ago I was asked quite pointedly by the new broom housing team manager if the money I'd just spent on one home was good value. I agreed it was not, yet it was the council's own policies that had separately identified and budgeted energy efficiency measures funding on top of normal building works. This is in fact the sort of short sighted policy that occurs when people just think in terms of meeting certain targets withut considering reasonableness.

This was the discussion we were having today ,I am on the building side ,responsible for the windows and doors and was given a lovely set of plans from the architect ,beautifully drawn with plenty of detail but actually implementing them in a refurb project on a house built in the early 50's was a different matter. Loads of issues that have to be overcome that wouldn't be present in a new build For the £500,000 alocated for the 6 properties i think quite a few new houses built to a high spec could be built because it would be cheeper to incorporate this technology into new build