Bedford & Jobson Limited

February 2010 – we have just won planning permission for this new house in Devon, the first anywhere in the south-west to meet level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes. The design combines super-insulation with extremely low embodied energy materials such as cob from the site, local

hedgerow timber and a turf roof. The low heat loss characteristics of the building’s envelope – walls, floor and roofs - backed up by both hydro and solar PV power generation make a house that is truly ‘carbon neutral’.

The two houses pictured in this valley are to be the subject of major refurbishments that will add enhanced insulation and airtightness measures as well as a renewable wood pellet heating system, solar panels and a hydro power scheme. The project demonstrates what can be achieved in retrofitting historic buildings to meet level 4/5 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

Completed in 2009 this contemporary house in the South Hams incorporates renewable energy technologies - ground source heat pump, photovoltaic array, mechanical ventilation and heat recovery.

Elsewhere in south Devon the practice is ‘on site’ with another major retrofit. Situated on the edge of the National Park with views over moorland the 600 square metre house will generate its own electricity from PV arrays on south facing roofs. High performance triple-glazed windows, external

wall insulation and airtight construction help to create comfortable rooms warmed by a combination of wood burning stoves, underfloor pipework from a ground source heat pump and a ventilation system that recovers heat whilst circulating fresh air’.