Abstract
A chosen case study house forms the basis of this paper, which is a pilot energy-efficient social housing project, completed by one of the largest housing developers in the UK. The main aim of this study is to inform the redesign of flexible energy-efficient housing units. The housing, designed for social tenants, was built by the Accent Group in 2005, using modern construction methods and sustainable materials, based on extensive research from the adaptable and “Grow Home” principles of Avi Friedman as well as open building implementation. The first pilot scheme was designed in collaboration with the Building Energy Analysis Unit at the University of Sheffield, together with the Goddard Wybor Practise, and was a successful housing development with respect to being environmentally friendly and a low-energy design scheme for the UK climate. This paper presents redesigning of flexible terraced housing units, and their performance evaluation, using a building simulation method as well as the passive-house planning package. The aim was to plan a row of terraced houses that can not only utilize a flexible design concept in floor planning layout, but also to reduce energy consumption with a passive design with particular attention paid to material selection. In addition, building simulation work has been carried out with the use of DesignBuilder software for both thermal and energy performance evaluation. The study examines the annual energy performance and comfort conditions in the designed house to be situated in the Northeast of England, UK. A terraced house unit design is considered a flexible home that can adjust to the needs of different tenants for the purpose of achieving a sustainable building under different aspects, such as low energy, low carbon, use of renewables, and low impact materials, with flexibility by design.
Highlights
Climate change is one of the biggest issues the world is facing today and the UK government is at the forefront to deal with this challenge
The most common types of dwellings are terraced houses (29%), followed by semi-detached houses (26%). This was stated in a report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority [4]
The first pilot scheme was designed in collaboration with the Building Energy Analysis Unit (BEAU) at the University of Sheffield [21] together with architects at the Goddard Wybor Practise (GWP) Ltd
Summary
Climate change is one of the biggest issues the world is facing today and the UK government is at the forefront to deal with this challenge. Attention should be given to making the existing housing stock energy efficient, as most of them will continue to be in existence for another 50 years, if not longer. According to the UK House of Commons Environment Committee, around 200,000 dwellings would need to be built each year in England, up to 2016, between 1991 and 2016, as there is a need for 4.4 million houses to be added to the housing stock [2]. The most common types of dwellings are terraced houses (29%), followed by semi-detached houses (26%). This was stated in a report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority [4]. As the largest portion of homes in the country, it makes the existing terraced housing schemes a priority case for refurbishment and/or retrofit, and offers a very good opportunity for redesign, to upgrade and/or improvement sustainability in the future
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
