Bedford College, Sustainability and The Riseley Eco House Project

We have made contact with Esin Esat, Director of Sustainability, at Bedford College.

Esin has linked me up with David Jazani who is keen to use the Riseley Eco House Project as part of a “carbon neutral buildings module” he runs in the “Sustainable Construction Foundation Degree Course (in partnership with the University of Bedfordshire) at Bedford College. We have supplied David with drawings and photographs of The Riseley Eco House. 

Bedford College Going green!

Bedford College continues to take a proactive role in skills for energy developments with many training options on offer.
Courses developed in collaboration with industry include:

·         Foundation Degree in Building Services and Sustainability

·         Foundation Degree in Sustainable Construction

·         Photovoltaic Systems Installation

·         Solar Domestic Hot Water Systems

·         Air Source Heat Pumps 

·         Rainwater Harvesting

·         Under-floor Heating

·         Biodiesel Production

There is a ‘whole institution’ approach to embedding sustainability into the Bedford College's curriculum and operations. An exhibition of students' work, held on the college's Sustainability Day, showcased many excellent examples from all academic centres, including work relating to energy efficiency, alternative energy and local environmental issues.

Riseley Village Show Sept 09

A big thank you to everybody who came to see us at the Riseley VIllage Show on Saturday 12 September 2009. We were very impressed by the high level of understanding of eco and sustainability issues, by the searching technical nature of many of the questions you asked and by the overwhelmingly positive reaction you had to our Riseley Eco House Project.

If you have any questions or if you would like to be informed each time we update this web site then please email us on wire@george-davies.co.uk
or see contact details in the "Contact Us" side panel

Straw Bale Construction

Strawbale Building

–      Sustainable, beautiful and low-impact –

WHY STRAWBALE?

Strawbale construction has to be one of the most sensible options for the future of the built environment. It’s affordable, available, sustainable and effective.

Straw bales incorporate a structurally strong building block with super-insulating properties. They can be built quickly and provide more cost-effective insulation than any other product, nearly three times more than Building Regulations require. Straw is also annually renewable, non-toxic, and safe: when compressed in a wall system, it is not a fire risk, as proved by international research, and with the BRE in the UK. 

Straw is surplus to requirements in most parts of the world, including in the UK where we produce 4 million tonnes annually. This could build a quarter of a million 3 bed roomed homes a year!  It’s simple, portable, cheap, beautiful, creative, flexible and FUN, and just about any of us can use it.  

It is a particularly relevant choice given the current debate on global warming – the construction industry and its associated transportation are responsible for over 50% of all greenhouse gas (CO2) produced annually. Using straw, because it is plant based, as a wall system locks up CO2 for the life of the building, resulting in a better than zero carbon footprint.

One third of all UK energy consumed annually is in domestic homes, and more than half of that goes on heating, so if we can reduce the amount of heating we need to do by making homes thermally efficient we will be making a huge contribution to reducing dependence on fossil fuels and the production of CO2.  Straw gives us the double advantage of reducing CO2 emissions and improving thermal efficiency. The greatest design challenge of this century is therefore in energy efficiency and sustainability, and straw is a near-perfect, responsible answer.

The current thinking is to use straw bales for the garage of the Riseley Eco House.

Information courtesy of amazonails^® strawbale innovations

Video 2 360 degree view of the site

Centre of House 360 degrees, 

In Video 2 the camera is positioned approximatley in the centre of the proposed Riseley Eco House and pans 360 degrees around the site. It starts at the gateway that will become the entrance to the Riseley Eco House driveway, then pans along the tree line towards 156 High St . There is a drop of 1.6 metres to Riseley High Street beyond the trees. The pan continues and goes full circle picking out 144A High St. and back to the gateway. The video was taken in August 2009.

Riseley Eco House - The Movie

Julie Laslett, film maker and Managing Director of the company Dramatic Media, is making a documentary video about the Riseley Eco House. We have started by building up a library of clips of the site as it is now and we will post some of these clips on this web site.

Video 1 View from High Street

Tracking from road

Video 1 is the view of the proposed Riseley Eco House site when travelling along the Riseley High Street from South to North. In the summer months, when the trees are in leaf, there is no view of the " open space" and there will be a very limited view of the Riseley Eco House. The site begins at the gateway and has houses either side of it. The intent is to retain the hedge and tree line essentially unaltered except that we will add more trees and hedging to further increase the screening. The video was taken in August 2009.

Site Plan

Site Plan