Case Study

BRE Renewable House

The BRE Renewable House is located in Watford, England and was developed as part of a project to evaluate environmentally sustainable affordable housing. They have had over twenty thousand visitors, including guests from the construction industry, local authorities, Government, academia, school groups and international leaders. The Renewable House at the BRE was constructed using timber frame construction and hemp as the insulation material. After many months of testing, Resistant’s Multi-Pro XS was used as the “breathable” fire resistant racking board which complemented exactly the attributes that a hemp building provides.

Key Facts

Project Sector:: Private
Project Value:: £75,000
Size of Project:: 3 bedroom detached home
Client:: The National Non-Food Crops Centre (NNFCC)
Architect:: Empyer Homes and Archial Architects
Contractor:: The Linford Group
Commencement Date:: January 2009
Completion Date:: April 2009
Resistant Product:: Multi-proXS

The National Non-Food Crops Centre (NNFCC) built this house in 2009 with support from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The Renewable House demonstrates the exceptional sustainability of renewable materials, but without compromising on style or affordability. The Renewable House costs only £75,000, excluding groundworks and utilities, making it particularly suitable for the affordable housing market. Designed as a three bedroom detached home, the concept can also be extended to semi-detached and terraced housing.

The developers specified that all the products used were made from renewable materials, which would deliver high levels insulation, breathability and airtightness. Multi-Pro XS was chosen due to it’s environmentally friendly manufacturing process and because it is a low risk building product, exhibiting no harmful dusts or debris when cut.

For the renewable house at BRE, the total build time was 12 weeks, spanning from January 2009 until April 2009. The properties of renewable materials make for an attractive, healthy and comfortable home, delivering high levels of insulation, breathability and airtightness, not to mention the speed of build. Multi-Pro XS was able to be scored and snapped to size and fixed directly to the timber frame.

With the BRE Renewable house could lead to influencing future builds in the local area, and the new builds might include more renewable materials which will not only be more cost effective in the long term. A potential development of homes like this could also reduce the local areas dependence on fossil fuels, reduce C02 emissions created and encourage enterprise and put the UK at the forefront of new industries.