Self build on sloping plot

The Hen House project is an award-winning energy efficient newbuild house, built into a steeply sloping Sheffield garden site, designed by Paul Testa Architects and built by Simplicity Construction.

The house has been designed to be extremely warm and comfortable to live in whilst using very little energy compared to a typical new-build house. The house was built using Passivhaus principles, and was designed using PHPP, with a total space heating need of 36 kWh/m2 per year and a construction cost of  £1,975/m2

Green Building Store’s Performance triple glazed timber windows and doors were chosen for the project. The window and door specification for the site included a large gable end with French doors and triangular fanlights, as well as long narrow windows positioned to fit in with ‘overlooking’ issues at the site and also to take advantage of the views of wooded overgrowth

Paul Testa commented: “We specified the Performance range because of its excellent value for performance and also because of the quality of Green Building Store’s customer service. Value for money is obviously an important factor when specifying.

“We did some cost comparisons and these windows came out really well compared to competitors. Green Building Store is also very easy to work with and really supports us throughout the whole specification process”.

Green Building Store also designed the project’s MVHR (mechanical ventilation with heat recovery) system.

Paul Testa: “The MVHR system is working really well and is virtually silent in operation, as we’d expect from Green Building Store’s MVHR design team.”

The self builders said:  “We couldn’t be more impressed with the service we’ve had throughout from Green Building Store. They’ve been absolute professionals, really easy to deal with and all-round lovely folk!”

Featuring a highly insulated and airtight timber frame from Frame Technologies, this project won a Build It Award for Best Timber Frame Home 2019.

Find out more about this project.

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