Roundhouse on Grand Design

Please be sure you see the Grand Design episode on September 17th which features our Roundhouse project near Milton Keynes. This very dramatic circular building was ideally suited to our pre-cut timber frame system which allows us to build any shaped structure - there are no limits imposed such as  making the build fit into pre made panels.

The main build was created with a Glulam frame, with our 300mm I beams then infilling between to create a super insulated, air tight structure - with the client then managing his own trades to finish the build.

Previews of the series featuring the Roundhouse were shown on TV recently, a still from the preview below:

Kent Project

We are now nearing completion on our project in Kent. This large, complex timber frame home over a part basement will create a home with 480m2 of living space, with fantastic panoramic views over the Kent countryside.

The frame features our rigid air tight board applied to the entire external surface to create a very robust, long term airtightness solution. Also a Touchwood Homes designed and installed PAUL MVHR system, using rigid steel duct work has been installed into the pre-cut duct routes in the frame to provide constant fresh air to the home.

Once complete, we will be commencing an exciting new build in Oxfordshire featuring an attractive curved glulam roof.

Works on our Suffolk project are now complete, with the timber frame and air tight layer installed, and Rationel's RED installation team successfully installing the windows in just two days.

The first fix works are also completed on the Touchwood designed PAUL MVHR system, allowing the project to be handed over to the local builder to organise the follow on works.

Touchwood Homes Offer Clients Free Project Consultation with Trunk

At Touchwood Homes we have been in the vanguard of British low energy construction since the 1990’s when we worked on our first home utilising the early principles of Passivhaus.  We realised then that minimising energy use is the only way forward when building new homes! 

Since then we have continued to be pioneers, continuously refining our build techniques and design details, and we now offer market leading, completely bespoke timber frame homes. All the homes we build feature incredibly high levels of insulation for minimal running costs and a superb internal living environment.

We are passionate about the homes that we build and the quality of our service, and we are always excited to find like-minded individuals to work with – both clients and suppliers. In recent years we have worked with Trunk Low Energy Building on several projects, and we are pleased to offer our clients a free project consultation with Trunk – specialists in low energy building project management and consultation.

2013 was an exceptional year for Trunk; it became a Chartered Building Consultancy and founder Mike Jacob was listed as one of Building Magazine’s 50 Rising Stars of Sustainability.  At the Constructing Excellence Awards London and South-East Trunk was selected as a finalist in no less than three categories including Project of The Year, and Mike was awarded the prestigious Achiever of The Year Award.  Mike Jacob was also listed as a peer-reviewed Twitter Sustainability Influencer.

Already in 2014 Trunk has been selected as a finalist in the Construction News Specialist Awards for Project of the Year (>£500,000).  When it comes to low energy building the Trunk team really know what they’re talking about. 

Both Touchwood Homes and Trunk Low Energy Building will be at the National Homebuilding & Renovating Show at the NEC in Birmingham, from Thursday 27 March 2014 to Sunday 30 March 2014, where we look forward to welcoming you. 

Touchwood will be on stand SH105a where we can talk through your project requirements. Trunk will be on stand F203 and will be very happy to offer Touchwood’s existing and potential customers a free 30-minute project consultation.

For more information on Touchwood Homes please visit our website at http://www.touchwoodhomes.co.uk or call 01279 842675.

For more information on Trunk Low Energy Building please visit the website at www.trunklowenergybuilding.co.uk  Please contact info@trunklowenergybuilding.co.uk to request a free consultation / to ask any questions.  If you cant make the show but would like a consultation Trunk would still love to hear from you.

For more information and to book tickets for the National Homebuilding & Renovating Show please visit www.national.homebuildingshow.co.uk

Best regards

Touchwood Homes

http://www.touchwoodhomes.co.uk

01279 842675

Touchwood Home featured on Radio 4 You and Yours !

BBC Radio 4 consumer programme You and Yours featured an interview with David & Penny Learmonth on 20th Jan 2014 who explained how little heating their Touchwood Home requires. In fact in their case, they have negative energy bills, with the electricity making an overall profit of £300 / year after the PV feed in tariff! David and Penny also clearly explained the concepts behind a passivhaus - an elegantly simple way to build a house so that minimal energy us required to heat it.

You can listen to the programme on the iplayer - approximately 20 minutes into show.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03q69c3

Touchwood Homes on The Telegraph website!

The Telegraph website has a feature on Touchwood Homes for their Innovations at Work section where they focus on our low energy buildings and the quality required to achieve an air tight build. Please see the video featuring an interview with Adam at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/business/innovation-work/10459923/eco-friendly-homes-touchwood.html

£59 Annual Running costs for a Touchwood Home!

With all the talk of energy costs in the media, we asked David and Penny, clients who have been living in their Essex Touchwood Home for a year how their energy costs are, particularly compared to their old house.

David reports tiny running costs of only £59 / year, compared to £2,860 in their previous house! How was this achieved? firstly by designing and building the house structure to the passivhaus principles - 300mm thick walls packed solid with Warmcel insulation, so minimal heat loss through the walls. Similarly 360mm thick rafters. Just like a very thick jumper all around the external surface of the home, holding the heat in.

The foundation used was our Passivhaus foundation slab which ensures heat loss to ground is completely minimised. This is well demonstrated when shoes are taken off when entering the home - the tiled ground floor does not feel cold underfoot.

These design principles combined with our special air tight layer and PAUL MVHR system to provide constant fresh air result in a building with an incredibly low heating demand.

Once the design has minimised heat loss through the structure, then renewable energy technologies can be utilised to meet the minimal heating and hot water demand. Here, that has been achieved using a 3 panel solar thermal system, with heat stored in a 1000 litre thermal store. Winter heating back up is from a log stove with back boiler. The home also features a 4kWp PV array which under the feed in tariff receives £800 / year, aswell as reducing imported electricity.

As a back up heating method, underfloor heating was installed within the foundation slab. On our recent visit we asked David how often this has been needed - he responded  'I've never switched it on'.