It’s a close call between 3 of them (the “green architect” we spoke was out of the running. He was too shy and lacked the confidence we wanted to see which was a shame. We’ve decided we’ll have to push the green issues and have someone who good at executing projects) and we’re going to feel bad having to let down 2 of these. Our favourite by a whisker is Richard Potter, so I ring a few past clients and see what they say. They were very generous with their time and strongly recommended him. We don’t need any more persuading, so we get in touch and give him the good news.
Choosing an Architect
November 26, 2009My House
November 24, 2009The house I bought is dilapidated and is in a conservation area, and an “Area of Outstanding National Beauty” in South Oxfordshire. It is of red brick construction and was built in the 1830s. The walls are solid brick (no cavity), the windows are single glazed and rotten. There is almost no insulation (though this is academic – there is no heating!). It is south-facing, though has limited south-facing roof area. There’s loads of garden with it.
This Old House - How Can I Reduce Its Impact on the Environment?
As I understand, the main opportunities for me are to install:
- a Ground Source Heat Pump which will provide underfloor heating
- photo-voltaic solar panels
- hot water solar panels
- rain-water harvesting
- as good insulation as possible
- double glazing
Interviewing Architects
November 22, 2009We’ve now interviewed 8 architects on site. We’ve made notes as best we can so we remember who’s who. We wanted to know if we got on with them, did they sound knowledgeable, were they practical. Did they have environmental experience and what were their similar projects like?
Choosing an Architect
November 14, 2009Wow – what a lot of architects there are. I Googled the location and found scores of them listed within 40 min drive of the property. Having reviewed many of their websites, I whittled the list down to 12 – these guys had done similar projects, and had environmental credentials that put them in the running.
I’ve fired an email off to each of them, so let’s see what responses I get…
It’s ours!
November 10, 2009So after few ups and downs, we’ve completed and bought the house! What a feeling. A good price for it too! I think that there’s limited interest because there’s so much work that needs doing to it.
The insulation could be improved...
My dad asks me some practical questions like where are the services: water, gas, sewerage… I don’t know! I guess there’s going to be a lot of unknowns that need discovering.
Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours
October 20, 2009Met the neighbours (only 3 of them, and 1 of those own the field – there’s no house). One couple in particular have been very hospitable, and have had us in for tea and cakes. They have lots of knowledge of the area and have been very helpful. This bodes really well!!!
Here’s where I stand…
October 4, 2009- I believe all the social challenges we face (healthcare, education etc) become academic if we’re all dead because of climate change
- The climate change skeptics might be right, but we can’t afford to assume they are
- I go skiing every year, knowing the travelling emits unnecessary CO2 which is bad for the environment
- I have children and I care that they grow up to ripe ages in a safe environment
- I don’t think we can stop the insatiable desire to excessively consume that has taken hold of so many of the world’s population – we will have to rely on technological advancements
- I’ve just bought a big dilapidated house in the country, and I want to make it as environmentally friendly as possible
- My head is full of unanswered questions and environmental dilemmas. I hope to resolve some of them by writing this blog
How Green Can We Go?
October 3, 2009I’ve started my research into green solutions that we can put in place. I know we’ve not bought it yet but can’t help but get excited and do a bit of dreaming. PV cells, Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHP), insulating like crazy… Exciting times…
Finding a Family Home
September 1, 2009We’ve been looking for our “settle down” house for years and we’ve known why we’ve not found it: lack of geographical focus. We only knew we wanted closer to Wales and a reasonable London commute. This meant our search radius included Bath, Bristol, Oxford, Cheltenham, Reading etc; a huge area indeed, which meant we had very limited knowledge of the towns and villages where potential properties cropped up. Along with our other criteria: good schools, fairly rural, good pubs, hills and ideally a bit of land we were really up against it.
Then last week, a Rightmove alert caught my eye: a nice looking Victorian farmhouse “in need of renovation”. The place: Goring. A quick search told me there were excellent schools, the commute is under an hour and there’s hills aplenty. This is it! We had no intention of taking on a huge project, but we’ve seen enough places to know that we should take this opportunity whilst it’s there.
