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Zero Carbon House

John Christophers, Birmingham, 2009

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Rear of the house showing the extension

Martine Hamilton Knight (website) Download Original

Photographs
Drawings

Extension and conversion of an end-of-terrace Victorian house into a carbon-neutral family home

The energy-efficient retrofit in Birmingham uses low energy materials and environmental systems to achieve Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes. The existing two-bedroom red brick house has been transformed into a four-bedroom dwelling with a studio loft.

Internally, the volumes have been adjusted, however the original 1840 house is preserved more or less intact with the extension wrapping itself around the original build.

The studio loft benefits from sunlight that would otherwise have been obscured by the neighbouring house, and creates more space without further adding to the building footprint. The original red brick facade has been left exposed to differentiate between old and new.