Almost 40 years in practice since qualifying as an architect has given Richard Haig a wide range of experience.
One continuous thread throughout is a burning desire to do everything in the most environmentally friendly way while, at the same time taking every advantage of the best of modern design.
Richard’s background shows just why he is so well qualified to run his practice as he has since 2008. After 13 years in London working for a charitable institution on community projects and large scale urban regeneration, he moved to South Yorkshire to take on a post as Architectural Manager at a local authority.
This was followed by eight years with Eden Supported Housing Ltd, which provided social housing and support for adults with learning difficulties. Here Richard was in charge of in-house maintenance as well as all the architectural design.
Since setting up on his own in 2008, Richard has concentrated on green architecture and ecobuilding. He is a Member of the Green Register as well as the AECB, the Sustainable Building Association and has recently joined the Passivhaus Institute and WSET (World Society of Energy Technologies).
Looking at Richard’s own house gives a perfect example of his approach to modern, green design. Richard chose a very airtight and highly insulated timber frame construction (U-values floor 0.1, walls 0.1 and roof 0.07, using recycled newsprint); the roof value was certainly amongst the best at that time. He originally chose triple glazing but in the end, because of price opted for Danish Rationel double-glazing.
This has a softwood construction with a microporous finish, which only needs re-coating about once every 5-8 years. He also opted for natural materials throughout, and organic paints made in Doncaster (Green Earth Paints).
The house is fitted with a whole house heat recovery and ventilation system by Nu-Aire (MVHR) that is designed to recover over 90% of the heat that is extracted from the wet rooms (kitchen and bathrooms) and to put the heat back into the dry rooms (living room and bedrooms), using low energy fans to provide a complete air change every two hours.
Richard says, “I looked at ground source heating but the cost was prohibitive, biomass was also expensive and at the time there was no guaranteed fuel supply; so I chose a gas-fired micro CHP unit to generate electricity (there was no Feed-In Tariff then!), using the heat to heat the house. However, this was not successful and so it was replaced with a gas condensing boiler and solar hot water.
Passive heat gains accrue from large south and west facing windows (none to the north). Solar Thermal panels (evacuated tube by Solar UK) contribute much of the hot water supply, and I am now looking at solar PV for my electricity. Finally, I also have rainwater harvesting, which I use for all my water needs, including drinking water.”
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