It is designed to require no external heating source and to emit no carbon gases, so is probably one of the greenest homes in the country.
Burnett, an environmental consultant, says: “One of the companies I am involved with, Bancon Homes, has a subsidiary known as Deeside Timberframe and we set up a working committee to look at greater energy efficiency within housing. We deal in a lot of affordable housing, and we’ve been looking at best practice and methods in energy-efficient buildings. So I wanted to build something that could provide a prototypical model for a sustainable house.”
When it came to finding an architect, Burnett had little hesitation in approaching Gökay Deveci, based in Aberdeen. “Gökay is very well known generally in the field of environmental architecture and locally in Aberdeenshire as he teaches at Robert Gordon University,” says Burnett.
“I was aware of the houses he had worked on in this area, such as the Zero Heating house, and I had heard about houses he had insulated using recycled Yellow Pages, so he was the obvious choice for what we were looking for.”
A semi-derelict, century-old timber-clad cottage stood on the site, but as it was in an irredeemable state, the decision was taken to design a replacement house.
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“We decided to go for a load-bearing timber-frame construction,” says Deveci.
“We opted for a double-stud system to incorporate maximum insulation into the walls. As a result, there is 300mm-thick insulation in the walls and 450mm in the roof. I think this is the most insulated building in the UK. If it’s not, it’s certainly one of them.”
The two-storey, three-bedroom house also includes airtight construction, a fledgling technology in Britain but popular in Scandinavian and northern European countries.
“Between the insulation layers we’ve taken polythene sheeting and sealed it all together in order to achieve airtight construction,” says Deveci. “Super-insulation is all fair and well, but if you want to get maximum energy efficiency, you have to use a combination of super-insulation and airtight construction.
“Airtight construction accounts for around 25% of energy efficiency.”
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Combined with a heat-recovering ventilation system (which extracts heat from the the air leaving the building to warm the incoming air that replaces it), the result is that the Burnett house is effectively a zero- heating/zero-carbon emissions house, which is as ozone-friendly as it gets. Burnett says: “The zero-heating aspect of the house is amazing.
“When we first mentioned to Gökay that we wanted a small log fire in the main ground floor living area, he said, ‘You won’t need it.’ And he’s right. When we have the log fire on, it only takes a few logs to heat the house.”
The Burnetts have also been impressed by the performance of the Velux solar panels, incorporated into the copper roof. “Velux solar panels are new and this is the first time I have used them,” says Deveci. “Solar panels are usually just thrown anywhere on the roof and the effect is often ugly. But these are integrated with the windows and aesthetically are much more pleasing.”
Another innovative aspect is the use of timber cladding. “So many buildings take their timber look from the shed aesthetic, but timber can look sharp and modern,” says Deveci. “The larch cladding looks contemporary.”
This simple aesthetic has been continued seamlessly into the interior spaces. Essentially the house comprises a large airy living, dining and kitchen area as well as a roomy bedroom and en-suite bathroom on ground level. On the upper level, two additional bedrooms, located in the east and west gables, are accessed via an oak staircase and glass balcony-bridge.
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Scottish oak floors add a natural richness. The extensive, triple-glazed, south-facing windows diffuse light over both levels and maximise the views.
“The house is in part of an old planted wood and we wanted it to blend in with this lovely setting. This is why we chose untreated larch that will turn silvery with age and a copper roof that will turn green,” says Burnett.
Yet for all its impressive sustainable aspects, Deveci’s design does not follow the well-trodden “eco-house” path. Indeed, as Deveci explains, “from the outside this doesn’t look like an ecological house. It looks like a crisp, contemporary house (and at £250,000, a very reasonably priced one).
“One of the biggest problems with sustainable buildings is that they have created their own aesthetics and people have expectations about what they look like. Sustainable houses don’t have to look like rustic timber sheds with grass roofs.”
The house is proof that “living la vida eco” can be sexy rather than staid.
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Gökay Deveci, 01224 263 714, g.deveci@rgu.ac.uk