By Mark Nash

The perfect low carbon house, without compromise on design quality and environmental performance, is the holy grail of housing.  And yet, WeberHaus, Germany’s leading OSM house builder, is almost there in developing the ideal low carbon home with its long-standing reputation in creating innovative and highly energy efficient buildings and expertise in sustainable, low carbon homes.  The company’s build system has achieved full BRE certification, which comfortably exceeds all current Building Standards, and is set to address the growing demand in the UK for quality, high performance eco homes.

A recently opened show home in the village of Kincraig in the Highlands, represents a great demonstration of how the patented build system blends into the local environment and is based on both environmental performance and beauty in design.  Its flexibility has allowed architects and specifiers to have considerable freedom to design and deliver a stylish building, in the knowledge that the technical product performance is inherent in the system.  The flexibility also ensured that the customer, who will eventually live in this house, could influence the outcome of his own ‘grand design’.  Equally, the high level of factory fabrication, allied with exceptionally fast build-out time on site, meant that the achievement and control of high build quality were significantly easier.

Core to the design of the Kincraig house are the highly thermally efficient closed timber frame wall, ceiling and roof panels, which were constructed within a state-of-the-art factory.  The panels came with windows and doors pre-installed and integrated first stage electricity and plumbing fixtures were set within the panels, allowing easy on-site assembly.  Erection of the structure on a standard foundation slab was swift and straightforward.  In similar projects, the shell of the house can be wind and watertight in as little as one day. Overall build time for a home such as the Kincraig house, can be around half that of a traditionally built equivalent. Optimal thermal performance is achieved through the use of triple glazing, a heat recovery and ventilation system and underfloor heating.  Other environmental features such as solar or photovoltaic panels, ground or air source heat pumps and wood burning stoves can also be incorporated to achieve outstanding energy efficiency for the building.

As Ken Tod of WeberHaus Scotland, who managed the Kincraig project explains: “At the start of the customer journey we needed to have in-house architects and designers who could either support our client’s architects or work directly with the client in aligning the house design with lifestyle aspirations and production or budget targets. Our design team knows how to create iconic homes, which complement the sheer quality and engineering of the inherent build system.

“The delivery of the client’s dream is the ultimate role of the build contractor.  Again, we have an in-house team, which manages and delivers outstanding quality of finish, which allows us confidently to offer a 30-year guarantee on each WeberHaus home.  Our system genuinely represents the future of house building and is way ahead of the game on energy efficiency, build and air quality and sound insulation.  What is also crucial is that our houses are cheap to run, and we aim to have energy bills substantially lower than those of traditionally built houses of similar size. The essential element in achieving this is the thermal efficiency of the wall and roof construction, where the benefits of high levels in insulation are protected by ensuring the house shell is as airtight as possible. Because we get these basic principles right, we don’t have to rely on a wide range of expensive “bolt-on” additions to achieve energy efficiency.”

WeberHaus’s reputation as a German market leader in energy efficient homes has been established over the past 50 years and during that period the company has produced over 30,000 homes for its own market.  A commitment to researching and developing new processes and materials has led to milestone products like the Passiv wall, which is so thermally efficient the house does not need any additional heating source; and the Plus-Energy home, which produces more energy than it consumes.  It is this experience that helped the company become one of the three finalists in the Government’s English Partnership competition for the £60,000 affordable house.  With distribution throughout the UK, this unique product is now easily accessible to both self-builders and developers, along with a full range of support.  Ken Tod comments: “The Kincraig house is not just beautiful with its floor to ceiling glass and views over the mountains, it also represents the best of German technology combined with UK design and project management.  From the initial concept until we hand over the keys on a completed house, our approach concentrates on tailoring a home to exact specification with the knowledge that the finished product will be exceptional.”

For further information contact Ken Tod
Tel 01463 228930   ken@pehomes.co.uk
www.weberhaus-scotland.co.uk