Eco home stands tall in award fight

nlnews@archant.co.uk
17 March 2010

Artist's impression of how the eco home would look

A REVOLUTIONARY family house has sidled up to some of London's most iconic skyscrapers in a competition.

The eco home in Denewood Road, Highgate, was in a clash of the titans with The Shard in Bankside - soon to be the country's tallest building - and the City's 201 Bishopsgate and Broadgate Tower in the ICE Civil Engineering Awards 2010.

The redevelopment of King's Cross St Pancras Underground Station and London 2012 Olympic Park enabling projects were also nominees.

Known as Highgate House, the three-storey detached property is no ordinary family home.

It has five bedrooms, a gym, swimming pool and studio at basement level, and a host of eco technology to keep it as close to carbon neutral as possible.

Award descriptions say: "This new family home in north London sets a precedent for environmentally conscious design in contemporary architecture."

It is powered by a micro combined heat and power plant and a heat-recovery ventilation system, and solar and photovoltaic panels on the roof top up heat and energy systems.

Still under construction, the house is yet to be tested for "air tightness" but if results are positive it could also become one of the first buildings in England to receive German "Passive House" classification.

Alex McCredie, of Expedition, which entered it for the prize, said: "We are very proud to be the civil and structural engineers on this house and it is a great achievement of the design team."

But the competition eventually proved too colossal and The Olympic Park was awarded the top honour at a London Transport Museum ceremony last Wednesday.

The announcement comes just weeks after a Haringey Council planning committee member said solar panels were a guaranteed money earner.

Councillor Ray Dodds said at a February meeting: "If I go out tomorrow and put solar panels on my roof at a cost of £12,500 for the next 25 years, I am guaranteed an inflation proof 10 per cent return on that actual investment because the government will pay me for the energy that's generated."

Tariffs paying homes to feed energy into the National Grid begin on April 1.