Caerphilly does it!

Caerphilly is fast becoming a Passivhaus hotspot with several projects either completed or underway in the County. As well as there being a clutch of housing association schemes, the Caephilly County Borough Council itself has embarked on the Caerphilly Innovative Housing Pilot, a pilot Passivhaus scheme of 18 homes, on 3 sites, which has recently achieved certification. 

 

The Caerphilly Innovative Housing Pilot has involved the construction of three identical buildings on two sites. The  project has been shortlisted in the category for ‘Best Development’ and ‘Best Partnership’ in two categories in the 2022 Inside Housing Development Awards.

 

We hope to use this pilot and the partnership we’ve developed to act as a blueprint for our future home building plans.

Councillor Shayne Cook, Cabinet Member for Housing and Property, Caerphilly County Borough Council

 

Key facts  Number of homes: 18 (3 blocks of 6) Location: Two sites (at Trethomas & Trecenydd) Treated floor area: 352 m2 (per block of 6 homes) Construction type: Panelled steel frame system Certification date: Passivhaus, July & October 2022.

 

Steel frame

Homes on these developments were developed to Passivhaus standards using a steel frame design.  Local Ystrad Mynach based company Caledan Ltd manufactured the steel frames used in construction. The panelled system, developed for the project with contractor Willmott Dixon, achieved excellent airtightness results. The system used 260 mm of external mineral wool with a gypsum sheathing board with glass fibre mat reinforcement. 

Predicted energy performance 

	Trethomas 1-6	Trethomas 7-12	Trecenydd 1-6
Airtightness	0.6 ach @ 50Pa	0.5 ach @ 50Pa	0.6 ach @ 50Pa
Space heating demand	19 kWh/m2.yr	20 kWh/m2.yr	19 kWh/m2.yr
Heating load	10 W/m2	10 W/m2	10 W/m2
Primary Energy Demand	133 kWh/m2.yr	135 kWh/m2.yr	138 kWh/m2.yr
Primary Energy Renewable	58 kWh/m2.yr	59 kWh/m2.yr	60 kWh/m2.yr

 

It is great to see the Council putting climate change at the heart of new build programme. Not only will these homes help protect the environment, they will also be low cost to run.

We hope that these developments will set a new standard for low carbon homes in the borough and through working with our local supply chain, they will pave the way for many more sustainable schemes in the future.

Andrew Dobbs, Director, Willmott Dixon

Key team Architect: Holder Mathias Architects Building contractor: Willmott Dixon  Passivhaus consultant: Warm: Low Energy Building Practice Passivhaus certifier: Zero Energy + Passivhaus

 

Housing associations in Caerphilly

As well as this Council-led pilot, Caerphilly is seeing a large-scale housing association Passivhaus activity. Linc Cymru Housing Association has commissioned a 38 home project, comprising apartments and terraced homes, on the site of a former Caerphilly magistrate's court. United Welsh has built a 19 home Passivhaus social housing scheme in Penyrheol in Caerphilly. 

 

7th February 2023

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