Grand Designs Live: How to improve living space and energy efficiency
GETTY The new Grand Designs Live tour will focus on how to improve living space and energy efficiency
The latest extravaganza rolls into Birmingham’s NEC next Wednesday and if you are considering renovating your home or building your dream house then it’s well worth a visit to pick up tips. Kevin McCloud, the TV show’s presenter, will be on hand to interview experts in the theatre area and the popular Ask An Expert service, where you can get free advice on everything from architecture to planning and even financing your ideas, is now complemented by the Kitchen Advice Centre. Book free 30-minute consultations with experts to find out tricks of the trade that are just not obvious when you’re touring round a DIY outlet by yourself. Grand Room Sets by innovative interior designers are another source of free inspiration and good ideas to copy in your own home and, of course, there are 400 exhibitors who should be able to answer any other questions.
We’re delighted that the windows create such a dramatic impression as you come towards the house up the lane Michael and Juliet Peters
One of the burning questions of our time is how to increase living space and improve energy efficiency in our homes. These were questions facing Stuart and Rosie Treasurer from the Wirral when they needed to modernise their 1960s dormer bungalow and increase the living space for their growing family. They hired an architect to redesign the house, creating five bedrooms on a new first floor after removing the original roof and putting a floating timber box on top of the house. This doubled the living space available and, as well as achieving improved energy efficiency with replacement windows, was why their home was featured on Channel 4’s Grand Designs last year.
LUMLEYSCAMBERCOTTAGES WARM WELCOME: Juliet and Michael Peters chose Rationel windows for their self-build home
To achieve the energy efficiency they increased the insulation to the original external walls and installed insulated concrete floors on the ground floor. Then they used a local firm to install energy efficient timber windows and glazed doors made by Danish firm Rationel, which has distributors all over the UK. Glazing technology used by producers such as Rationel effectively captures the sun’s heat coming in through the windows and reduces heat lost through the glass. Rationel also makes aluminium-clad timber windows so they are natural timber inside the house and metal outside, for harder-wearing external frames.
GETTY Juliet and Michael Peters, pictured inside their new home, chose Rationel for its "tailor-ability"
Heat capture and retention were the motivation for Michael and Juliet Peters to choose Rationel windows for their first self-build project. Robin Peters of Camber Consulting, which built the house in Camber, East Sussex – now a holiday home available to rent through Camber Holiday Cottages – says: “Sustainability was key to the design and materials chosen for this stunning house, Lumleys. “The heat of the sun floods in and is retained within the building, with the Argon gas-filled glazing contributing to the insulating properties of the glass. “The property was built to Passivhaus standards with the timber windows and large expanses of glass an essential part of achieving this.”
Passivhaus standard means a building that can retain heat to a point where a traditional heating system is not essential. The building also stays cool in summer through the use of shading. Michael and Juliet say they chose Rationel for its “tailor-ability” and have full-height and double-height windows as well as French doors and porthole-style round windows. “Our colour choice was a soft grey paint for both interior and exterior, which was delivered factory-finished,” they add.
The Scotland 'Grand Designs' home on the market for £925,000 Mon, August 21, 2017 As featured on Channel 4's 'Grand Designs' this dream home set in the beautiful Scottish countryside is on the market for under a £1 million Play slideshow Rightmove 1 of 16 The property is located near Midlothian, Scotland