Exeter, in England’s south-west, is blazing a trail for Passive House social housing. Its Chester Long Court, 26 high-quality, affordable homes built to the Passive House standard, has won design awards (along with, I expect, abiding appreciation from those who live in them).
The Council’s goal was to create apartments for their over-60s social housing tenants. By downsizing, larger Council homes are freed up for bigger families.
Some interesting notes about the wall construction and materials, including consideration of the whole life-cycle:
“Utilising a monolithic clay block construction with high performance render externally and plaster internally means an entirely mineral wall build-up which is hygroscopic, helping to regulate internal humidity. Designed around the large-format block coursing, construction time is greatly reduced, drying out period is minimised, and come to the end of the building’s life, the construction can be simply crushed up without the need for separation and disposal of composite elements.”
—30 April 2020