I visited during the open house and chatted with some of the architects about what they had done for energy conservation. I was impressed at how much they had studied and achieved with the building in terms of energy. I also liked the solution for getting light downstairs. The building looked a lot nicer on the inside than the outside, and although it certainly didn't have a lived-in look to it there was so much light in the place it felt warmer than it should with all that concrete.
I went too and had a long chat with the architect after wandering about. Having seen only a brief trailer of the Grand Designs episode I thought he might be terribly pretentious but I liked him. He wasn't exactly a barrel of laughs but was open and honest about what was proven and what was experimental and he was very passionate about what he had done in an understated way. Most architects long to work on commissions like this but such projects are few and far between, so I admire him for having the balls to make it happen for himself.
There was quite a lot of tech info left out in the show (although I was watching it after I got home from the pub so could easily have missed bits). One of the most interesting installations was the ground source heat system. One of the problems of GSHP is that in urban areas where there is not much opportunity for the ground to be warmed by the Sun the system can actually cool the ground below the building, reducing efficacy and in some cities where this technology is more common this has created permanent permafrost. His system has been designed so that when heat is not being extracted, it is being collected by the panels and returned to the ground and stored for when it is needed. The solution is simple but clever.
A lot of his costs came from fixtures and fittings and I didn't agree with some of his rationale for using Vola taps, for instance. I'm sure they are better quality than most brass ware but I just don't agree that at £500-600 for a basin mixer they will come close to paying for themselves during their lifetime.
As for the design, I thought it was great. I didn't think there was much that was ground breaking apart from perhaps the use of glass cladding - but it is a fine example of what it is and there isn't anything like it locally. The attention to detail (or lack of detail) is fantastic. It didn't feel cold to me but I am a fan of well executed concrete architecture, which is very unforgiving to work with. Interior wise, it is quite modest in size bearing in mind that the entire ground floor is the office for him an his team. Upstairs there are two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a decent but not enormous open plan kitchen and living area.
I've enjoyed watching it go up, enjoy seeing it when I run past and would very happily live in it. Although, if I did, it would be permanently untidy!
I feel a pretty uncomfortable with some of the carping and slagging going on above. Have we still not managed to get beyond the knee jerk reaction of attacking anything and anyone who is unfamiliar in our community. WTF?
keep out, although the couple soon realised they had to engage with the community everytime they stepped out the door coz everyone had an opinion. 
) They had to have it wrapped in white plastic and filled with coloured gas to check its airtighness- it was great fun to watch. For cat 5 you have to have various levels of fail safes- so if you accidentally drill through a wall it has to not collapse the whole system etc- especially if you are using ground source heating and water recovery and such technical gubbins. Plus there are all sorts of rules you don't think about but are in fact pretty obvious (eg you can't have a letter box)- really interesting area.
