From 1-11 Nov 2021, the COP26 House will open its doors to the Glasgow public to show how beautiful and affordable houses can help meet global climate change ambitions. The zero-carbon timber-frame building was built by Glasgow-based Urban Union for the UN Climate Change Conference, and developed by Beyond Zero Homes. Beyond Zero Homes is a collaborative group of over 20 organisations from the home building sector that aims to demonstrate how beautiful, affordable, healthy and comfortable homes can be developed with minimal impact on the environment, throughout their lifecycle.
The house was specifically designed to use homegrown C16 Spruce provided by BSW Group, a UK-based integrated forestry business, to avoid the need for imported timber. The house is also built using natural materials provided by different organisations. It has been designed to store more carbon than is produced during its construction and will only require heating in the coldest times of the year due to the high levels of insulation. Infra-red panels will provide the heating by heating objects and people directly, rather than the air. This low-cost electric solution is also almost entirely recyclable at the end of its lifecycle.
The COP26 House is also designed to be dismantled at the end for the reuse of materials or recycling. As a demonstration, the house will be deconstructed and rebuilt as part of a development of affordable homes near Aviemore, Scotland after COP26.
Some primary school students in Glasgow and Edinburgh have been invited to learn about about the COP26 House and the materials and technologies used in construction through guided tours. They will have the opportunity to enter a competition to design their dream home using recycled materials, judged by Beyond Zero Homes.
Peter Smith, architect and passivhaus designer at Roderick James Architects who designed the COP26 House, said: “It is vital that the houses we are building now are truly sustainable, being low carbon in construction and use. But with the COP26 house, I wanted to demonstrate that truly sustainable, ecologically responsible buildings can also be beautiful, comfortable to live in and low cost to build using locally-sourced materials.”
The members of Beyond Zero Homes who worked together to build COP26 House include Roderick James Architects, Home Grown Homes, BSW, Robertson Group, Urban Union, MEDITE SMARTPLY, NorDan, National Timber Group, STEICO, Herschel Infrared, Fakro, Paul Heat Recovery, RothoBlaas, Ultimate Insulation, Ecomerchant, Circular Ecology, David Narro Associates, Roddy Clarke, IES, Radiator Digital, Orluna, Rainclear, Glenalmond Timber and Scottish Forestry.
Source: Scottish Construction Now
