Ecobuild, Robinson Road

Project: Three bedroom eco house designed using a fabric first approach, to produce a house that is both stunning and sustainable. Year: 2020

Robin and his family owned an end of terrace house with a large garden in Colliers Wood. Their goal was to build an eco home the whole family could grow into.

Robin says

“I always wanted an eco build but didn’t fully understand what that entailed in terms of design, specialist trades and cost! The econess took over the whole thing and became a bit of an obsession.”

Rainy days and a pandemic.

Coronavirus caused some understandable delays and as Robin recalls, “We also had a lot of rain during the initial part of the build, the foundation stage! It was very muddy but the guys soldiered on!”

Robin and the the first architect didn’t have a great relationship but once the second architect was on board things got better. “There were some delays with design and specification and Tijs was always happy to react and change designs etc at short notice.”

We were involved across the build as Robin explains, “There were a series of sub contractors on site one after the other, managed by me, with Tijs and his guys providing the general building work. Tijs specifically was used a lot for general advice including on specifications, cost of other elements.”

As you might expect, it was a lengthy project, ”Maybe I though it would take 9 months and it took 12.”

But it was well worth it. Robin says his favourite bit of the building is its “eco ness”.

“It’s not like anywhere I’ve lived. It barely needs heating, for example the heating has been going off at 10am and staying warm all day, even when it’s zero degrees outside. I like monitoring the solar output, although we could do with a bit more sun and I’m really looking forward to seeing the wildflower roof in the summer.”

“We have a great relationship with Tijs and his team. Tijs is a good guy, trustworthy, approachable and knowledgeable and we have a laugh. Really happy they were the contractors as they were one element of the build that wasn’t stressful. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him and will definitely use him again.

The whole experience has been great. It’s a lot of work and extremely stressful at times, but overall very satisfying.”

Technical specifications: 4Kw PV, Super Insulation, Air Tight, Triple Glazing, timber insulated window frames, Air Source Heat Pump, MVHR (Mechanical Ventilation Heat recovery), Wildflower green roof

For more photos visit Robin’s own blog at https://www.95arobinsonroad.co.uk/