A new sustainable community within a dis-used building- a new 'green' heart!
The UK's most pioneering low carbon development; stunning homes and work spaces that don't cost the Earth, giving residents the tools they need to embrace an environmentally responsible lifestyle.
Greenhouse is the part refurbishment and part new build of a redundant 1930’s artdeco period hostel, in south Leeds. Craig Bolton of West and Machell Architects stated that Citu (the client) wanted to develop a 'super green' building, encouraging sustainable living without loosing any modern day comforts for its residents.
Before: Shaftesbury House 1930's Hostel | After: Greenhouse 2010 Eco-Living |
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Through the combination of energy efficiency measures and on site renewable technologies including ground source heat, solar thermal and rooftop wind turbines – the developers Citu are demonstrating that modern technologies can be successfully integrated within an existing building in an urban landscape to dramatically improve the air tightness and building energy performance.
Architectural feature with Rockpanel Rockclad boards
Craig Bolton says: “For the façade, our design intention was to create a contemporary modern appearance using highly rated sustainable materials in line with the buildings green credentials. On top of the existing 5 storey building we designed a new two storey box of accommodation.
This new architectural feature was designed to have the appearance of randomly organized grey and green Rockpanel boards in contrast to the organized façade below. Rockpanel was chosen for this element because of its sustainable credentials and our wish to create a striking design statement. We liked the fact that this product was manufactured mostly from a sustainable raw material- volcanic rock and we also liked that we had an extensive colour palette choice.” |  |
Green Principles
 | Our Green Principles included our belief in the phrase "Build Tight, Insulate Right". The existing building was wrapped in a new high performance insulated skin. This new thermal outer layer took the appearance of a 'surgical white' high performance render wall system, inspired by the 1930's white rendered Art Deco Style Buildings. |
Other important features adding to Greenhouse’s sustainable credentials include:
- BoreHole Ground source open loop heat pump for heating and cooling
- solar thermal hot water collectors,
- rooftop wind turbines,
- energy efficiency lighting,
- water conservation, rainwater and greywater recycling,
- local and sustainable building materials such as Rockpanel, high green guide ratings, natural finishes,
- A and A+ rated white goods,
- local allotment schemes,
- car pools and bicycle rentals and
- Internet Protocol System for residents to monitor their own energy use and bills.
Awards
Since the official launch of Greenhouse on 1st October 2010 Citu have won many awards:
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