THE RURALZED™ CONSORTIUM LAUNCH THE UK’s FIRST AFFORDABLE CODE 6 HOUSE
February 26th 2008, London - ruralZED™, a consortium of architects and specialist manufacturers at the cutting edge of the eco house-building industry, today launches the UK’s first affordable, carbon neutral house at the annual EcoBuild exhibition.
February 26th 2008, London - ruralZED™, a consortium of architects and specialist manufacturers at the cutting edge of the eco house-building industry, today launches the UK’s first affordable, carbon neutral house at the annual EcoBuild exhibition.The ruralZED™ housing system is set to revolutionise the house-building industry over the coming years and has been awarded on-site Code 6 status, the highest level in the Code for Sustainable Housing, eight years ahead of the government’s targets for carbon neutral new build homes.
The house is the first durable laminated timber frame to incorporate high levels of thermal mass that will help keep residents cooler in summer and warmer in winter, state of the art energy saving building fabric, and enough building integrated renewable energy systems to achieve zero carbon status.
By using a frame and traditional materials, as opposed to plastic foam, the construction is both durable and avoids problems with off-gassing and poor indoor air quality that can be inherent with other modern construction techniques. Hence it also has none of the concerns with combustibility that have been encountered with plastic foam construction.
The ruralZED™ housing system is available from £1,150 / m2 and £1,550 / m2 based on the purchase of six units at Code 3 and Code 6 status respectively. The low price makes it the first ever carbon neutral house kit that is commercially viable to build, and affordable to buy and live in.
Bill Dunster, Director of ZEDfactory, the architectural firm behind the project, comments on the benefits of the ruralZED™ house to developers and end-users:
“The main goal with carbon neutral housing is to reduce carbon emissions and the risk of climate change. Until now, proposals and prototypes of other house designs have lacked the commercial and financial viability to make them serious alternatives to traditional housing and building techniques.
“The ruralZED™ house has overcome financial constraints due to the strength of the ruralZED™ consortium, which has created a house that is, in addition to being the most ecologically sound housing option to date, affordable to build and desirable to live in, making it the most serious contender in the race to beat the effects of residential carbon emissions.”
The RuralZED™ consortium is an impressive body of organisations that offer thoughtful and viable alternative products and methods for creating revolutionary housing systems. The consortium includes ZEDfactory, ZEDfabric, Rockwool, Rationel Windows, Charcon, Mi-space and Hansgrohe.
Using the consortium members’ respective expertise, ruralZED™ housing system brings together the speed and quality of lightweight Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) at an affordable price. The flexible design and construction of the kit allows for detached, semi-detached or terraces of up to six homes, with variations on internal space and external appearance.
The ruralZED™ housing system, which is constructed in full at EcoBuild, offers detached, semi-detached or terraced houses of up to six units. The timber frame can be adapted to three storeys with the same details and timber sections used for two storeys and embraces environmentally-friendly, energy-conscious, sustainable work and leisure places and master-planning for complete ZED communities.
David Wood, Managing Director of EcoBuild, is thrilled to include the ruralZED™ house, which he considers to be the most exciting and feasible step towards widespread sustainable housing, as an exhibit in the two day event. He comments:
“We are very proud to host the unveiling of the ruralZED™ house, and hope EcoBuild will provide a successful launch pad into the commercial arena. Industry players attending the exhibition will be able to see the sophisticated design specification of the ruralZED™ house, as well as gaining an insight into the new building methods and the commercial viability of the house.”
