AECB Kent group were invited to see a small estate being built by Canterbury City Council which was claimed to be ‘chock full of green technology’ and would ‘consume much less energy’, so we were intrigued to find out what the council had done. Our group of local members and friends of the AECB included solar, heat pump and retrofit specialists, QS, engineer and builders.

We were disappointed to find the estate had 75mm of cavity insulation, basic double glazing, air leakage at 4-5ach, with a switch from gas boilers to heat pumps being the sole concession to the environment. We were confused why they had chosen to build in the Georgian style (complete with uPVC sash windows and fake stone band courses) which would add more to the cost than introducing more insulation?

I wrote a summary of our visit and shared our observations with the councils Principal Policy Officer (Climate & Environment).

I understand it has been mostly positively received but has ruffled some feathers. It was important that the council understand that creating low energy buildings is not about doing one small thing on an otherwise minimum standard project, they need to raise their game in every area, starting with the brief, the architects design, contractors selection, and quality control.

As a follow up, I invited council members to see one of our self-build Passivhaus schemes in Thanington, not far from where Canterbury City Council propose 30,000 new houses by 2040 (in a city of 70,000).