Zero Carbon housing: ‘COP26 House’

Our ‘COP26 House’ was built within 8 weeks on a site in central Glasgow, close to the COP26 UN Summit conference site. Led by Architect and Passivhaus Designer Peter Smith, the Beyond Zero Homes  collaboration was formed by 20+ companies that are all passionate about showcasing how zero carbon homes can be built with minimal impact on the environment, throughout their lifecycle.

Not only that, the Beyond Zero Homes ideology goes beyond zero carbon – the ‘COP26 House’ demonstrates how zero carbon homes can be developed quickly and can also be beautiful, affordable, healthy and comfortable.

(Image courtesy of Fourfifteen)

Designed specifically for the COP26 Convention on Climate Change, the ‘COP26 House’ is a timber frame house constructed from ecologically responsible materials – where every design detail has been considered in terms of its environmental and social impact. Post COP26, the house will be dismantled and moved to a site near Aviemore as part of a wider development of 12 affordable timber homes.

Heating the ‘COP26 House’ with Herschel Infrared

Herschel were delighted to join the Beyond Zero Homes collaboration as the primary heating solution for the project. Herschel Infrared heating is an efficient, comfortable and stylish solution for all properties and infrared lends itself particularly well to this house design. The thermal insulation of the building is such that there is a low expectation for heat demand. Low energy infrared panels were specified that work to heat the fabric of the building. As soon as the thermal mass is heated (walls, floors, ceiling), this acts as a 360° radiator that stores the heat and subsequently requires less on-time than other heating solutions.

White panels and a mirror were installed in the house, all controlled by MD2 thermostats. Not only are they an efficient electric heating solution, infrared heaters are also an affordable solution that requires no ongoing maintenance. A space-saving and quick to install solution that is available in a number of stylish finishes (including white, mirror, picture and glass panels) and also aligns with the Beyond Zero Homes principle of building healthy homes. The heating technology maintains a higher temperature in the building fabric than the air, thereby reducing moisture creation.  Associated problems of damp and mould are subsequently minimised to create a healthier indoor living environment. This is further enhanced by lower levels of dust circulation from the non-convective, radiant technology.

(Image courtesy of Fourfifteen)

‘COP26 House’ beats the RIBA 2030 Challenge Target

More recently, we’re thrilled that the ‘COP26 House’ has been cited as “an embodied carbon exemplar” in a whole life embodied carbon assessment. One of the primary design objectives was to minimise embodied carbon emissions and the assessment shows an outstanding result has been achieved.

When compared with a house the same size and built according to RIBA’s ‘business as usual’ standard, ‘COP26 House’ achieves a 59% reduction – 32,000kg of embodied carbon (COP26 House) versus 78,000kg (business as usual benchmark). Compared with the 2030 Challenge target set by RIBA, the COP26 House achieves a reduction of 22% – an impressive result.

See inside the ‘COP26 House’ with this video tour and 360 tour.

Video By: FourFifteen

As part of the COP26 event, it was fantastic to welcome the Fully Charged Team who filmed their COP26 News episode from the COP26 House. See host Robert Llewellyn speaking here from the interior of the COP26 House, the perfect setting for their Round-Up episode.

Herschel Infrared is part of the Beyond Zero Homes collaborative group which includes core partners – Roderick James Architects, Robertson Timber Engineering Ltd and Urban Union, NorDan, MEDITE SMARTPLY, Steico, Paul Heat Recovery, National Timber Group, Orluna Lighting, Fakro, EcoMerchant and Circular Ecology.