St. Julie’s
Location: Croftfoot, Glasgow
Client: City Building / Lowther Homes
Value: £3 million
Status: Complete
St Julie’s is a new-build development of twenty-eight houses and four flats in Croftfoot for mid-market rent and new supply shared equity. The homes were built by Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) and are let and managed by Lowther Homes.
The units are based on GHA’s energy efficient prototype ‘Glasgow House’, first developed in conjunction with City Building in 2010. St Julie’s was an opportunity to further develop the prototype and provide an energy efficient product that would dramatically reduce energy use and utility bills for tenants. It would be delivered at scale and at an acceptable cost for mainstream development.
Built on the site of a former school, the design seeks to replicate the identity of the surrounding locale while promoting the opportunities for both passive and active solar gain.
As part of the energy strategy for the house types, large areas of glazing are provided on South- facing facades. This also includes a sunspace that provides additional living space to the houses and acts as a thermal buffer during late autumn, winter and early spring. Using data supplied from BRE, it is possible to estimate that adequate solar penetration for winter sun for passive solar gain to the sunspaces can be achieved.
The fabric of the architecture is highly insulated and air-tight with a ventilation strategy using a decentralised mechanical extract fan. Photovoltaic panels are provided to all properties to generate electricity. Central heating boilers use heat recovery to meet a portion of domestic hot water demand.
The homes at St Julie’s have achieved all eight aspects of the Scottish Building Standards ‘Silver Active’ standard. Full compliance with Housing for Varying Needs and EcoHomes ‘Very Good’ standard were also achieved.
GHA secured funding for the development through the Scottish Government’s Greener Homes Innovation Scheme.
Awards:
Scottish Home Awards 2015 - Sustainable Development of the Year
Herald Property Awards 2015 - Affordable Housing Development
