REHAU fabricator Astraseal demonstrated its green credentials with the supply of two full height glazed screens for an environmental concept house at Nottingham University.
The BASF House Project has been designed to demonstrate how passive heating and ventilation can be successfully achieved in a UK property delivering a low carbon footprint at an affordable cost. It is one of a number of experimental homes built at the University’s School of the Built Environment which will be monitored over the course of the next year to see how they perform in terms of energy efficiency, comfort and payback.
The BASF house differs from most of the other properties in that it utilises passive design and high performance insulation materials already available from mainstream suppliers rather than experimental technologies to deliver its environmental efficiencies. A key element of this is a full height glazed sun space which regulates and controls the solar gain in the compact, two storey house and minimises the requirement for conventional heating systems.
Astraseal was awarded the contract to fabricate and install the two screens which form the space by REHAU - a key partner in the project supplying products from its renewable energy range including the AWADUKT Thermo ground to air heat exchanger and RAURAIN rainwater management system.
The screens, fabricated in the 60mm REHAU Tritec system, create a 1.5m wide sun space across the whole of the south facing elevation of the property. This has been designed to work alongside the ground air heat exchanger which uses the natural 10oC average temperature of the earth to deliver fresh pre-warmed or pre-cooled ventilated air to the house. The combination of the sunspace and the ground to air heat exchanger allows the users to capture and regulate heat coming into the house via solar gain.
The external screen features a mix of French doors and opening casements allowing occupants to use the space as a mini sun room opening to the garden and the internal screen features the same casements but with REHAU’s tilt and slide patios which can be opened as necessary to allow warm air in or out of the main living area. The casement windows are also operated by remote gearing so that the house can effectively regulate itself to ensure the heat is used as efficiently as possible.
Astraseal designed the screens using its curtain walling expertise and used its own specialist team to carry out the installation.
The passive heating and ventilation system has contributed to the house easily achieving a code level 4 under the Code for Sustainable Homes at a cost of just £70,000 based on a 20-house development, but this could be upgraded to a level 5 or 6 with the addition of on site micro generation of electricity.
