T w o A p p r o a c h e s t o D e v e l o p i n g L o w C a r b o n D w e l l i n g s
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With regard to the availability of specialist materials and the specialist skills it was only
the Quantity Surveyor, the Development Officer and, to a lesser extent, the Architect
who perceived a lack of skills and availability of specialist materials to be an obstacle on
the pilot project. These participants cited the difficulties gaining an Micro-renewables
Certification Scheme accredited installer for the PV as the reason for their high ratings.
But generally, it was felt by the pilot project team that the conventional nature of the
house meant that the sourcing of specialist materials had not been a problem, as
explained in the comment below:
‘No - Because it was timber frame - a pretty standard construction… I'm just
thinking more of the M&E whether that was influenced... [by a lack of materials]
because we had the bolt-ons - it really wasn't... it wasn't an obstacle.’
In contrast, to the pilot project, the sourcing of specialist materials for the eco-houses
was rated alongside development costs as the second the most significant obstacle to
the development. The reason for the high rating is explained below:
‘Thinking back what I found was - was using ecological materials there is very
much a right and wrong time of the year to be for looking for some things. So with
straw its harvested in August - if you start looking in February after a hard winter
it can actually be very difficult to get hold of it. Things like the hazel rods that you
use for reinforcing the walls - coppicing stops at the end of March so if you're
looking in April it can be a real job to find any significant quantities.... So yes
availability of materials can be an issue.’
With regard to the development of a best practice model for low carbon housing in rural
areas of Wales, the fact that each scheme’s obstacles appears to be addressed by the
other scheme’s approach indicates that there could be some merit in combining
approaches. However, to successfully combine these two approaches a number of
issues will have to be addressed: supply chain issues in the sourcing of local, natural
materials; a issues around a lack of incentives for non-standard approaches, evidenced
by PHA’s decision to use a tried and tested methodology; and a lack of flexibility with
regard to how low carbon buildings legislation is implemented at local level.
Consideration for the Building Users in the Design Process
There is evidence that the building users can play a considerable part in the energy
efficiency of a project (Combe et al 2011) and also that design can be a tool to influence
user behaviour (Lockton et al 2009); however, it was apparent from the answers in the
final set of questions that, aside from provision of a home user guide, and to a lesser
extent simplicity of control systems, that consideration of many aspects of user
behaviour had been neglected in the design of the pilot project. Of the thirty-five answers
provided by the participants involved in the pilot project in this section fifteen were given
a one rating meaning that the interviewee believed that the particular item had not been
considered (see Fig 10).
