Members of Transition Chepstow and Transition Monmouth visited SOLCER House on 16th September 2015 and could not fail to be impressed that by using current local technology a carbon positive house has been built for £1,200/sqm. Details can be seen at http://www.solcer.org. It is very different to see, feel, touch, smell and experience such a project rather than just theorise about it.
There are many additional savings that could be made to reduce this cost to well within social housing cost envelope, it is already within the private housing price envelope. The finish is to a high standard and this type of building would be very pleasant to live in. Whilst the architect Dr Jo Paterson would admit it is not the blueprint as house orientation, size and type will differ, it will be necessary to change the design. However this project has proved we can build attractive zero carbon houses within current price envelopes. So the obvious question is why isn’t this being done on new builds?
Watch this video about the project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgi4S89AVgY
Photos by Cyrene Powell.