Max Fordham’s north London house has become the first residential building in the UK to be verified as net zero carbon, making it a fitting tribute to the late great sustainable design pioneer.
A private north London house, designed for – and lived in by – the late great Max Fordham, has achieved net zero carbon for both operational and construction carbon, making it the first building of any type to achieve this feat. Operational verification is based on assessing a year’s in-use energy data, while construction verification relates to the emissions associated with the building’s materials. The achievement was made in line with the UKGBC’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Framework.
The RIBA award-winning and Passivhaus-certified dwelling was designed by Max Fordham LLP in collaboration with bere:architects and Price & Myers. Max Fordham himself was also an integral member of the design team. It is predominantly a new build with some elements of existing structures re-used. To minimise carbon emissions during construction, concrete with low-carbon cement replacement was used alongside timber for the roof structure, window frames and façade, as well as woodfibre insulation, cork flooring and triple-glazed windows.
Axonometric drawing showing environmental engineering approach
To achieve net zero carbon for the emissions created during construction, an investment in offsetting schemes was made at the voluntary cost of £70/tonne. This is far higher than the market rate, but is recommended by UKGBC and the Treasury to accelerate funding and incentivise reducing emissions first.
Hareth Pochee, senior engineer at Max Fordham LLP and author of the net zero report for Max Fordham’s house, took a deeper look into the figures behind the UK’s first carbon zero house and addressed readers questions in a recent article for Architecture Today.
Elsewhere, fossil fuels are eschewed in favour of a combination of 100 per cent renewable electricity from Good Energy (one of just three tariffs recognised by the UKGBC as a high-quality green tariff) and onsite generation using a roof-mounted PV. As such, the net operational carbon emissions for the building are zero and no offsetting is required.
A whole life carbon assessment calculated upfront carbon emissions of 609kgCO₂e/m² (A1-A5), which is less than a project-specific net zero carbon compatible target of 640kgCO₂e/m² (A1-A5), for residential building’s designed in 2016. Total upfront carbon emissions were calculated as 102 tCO₂e. The dwelling’s as-measured energy consumption is 48kWh/m²/yr, which is 20 per cent lower than the limit required to achieve net zero carbon status.
Max Fordham photographed in his house (ph: Lydia Goldblatt)
Ali Shaw, partner and principal at Max Fordham LLP said, “It was my privilege to provide a pair of hands to help realise Max’s vision and to give him a comfortable, tailored home for his final years. The house being Passivhaus certified and now becoming the first to achieve Net Zero Carbon status is a great way to honour Max and his huge contribution to the delivery of sustainable buildings. Max’s house is a built example of his legacy: it shows how a beautiful home can also meet the highest sustainability standards.”
