INTEGER Intelligent and Green

Alpine Close, Greenfields, Maidenhead

ln early 1998 INTEGER Partner Maidenhead and District Housing Association (MDHA) came to the INTEGER team with a brownfield site in central Maidenhead that they wished to appraise for a future development.

Alpine Close, Greenfields, Maidenhead
The site was a car park for 166 cars including 131 within pre-cast concrete garages, and was bounded by a mixture of four-storey maisonettes and two-storey terraced houses of mixed tenure, a grove of mature poplar trees, and a large open recreation ground and children’s play area.

The client’s brief to the INTEGER team was that the development should incorporate all of the INTEGER elements best suited to give maximum benefit to the future occupants of the scheme – a real “full-menu” development opportunity for INTEGER Intelligent and Green.

Design and Construction Innovation

• Orientation and configuration of the houses meant that they could benefit from passive solar gain from their south-west elevation

• Garages which existed on the site were crushed and recycled as fill under vehicular areas and paths

• Pre-cast concrete floor slabs meant that there was no need for intermediate foundations between load-bearing walls due to their longer span. This also meant that less spoil was excavated and less concrete used in the foundations

• Low maintenance, untreated sustainable Western Red Cedar was used as cladding for the building. Timber windows were stained with a factory applied non-solvent based stain

• The green Alpine Sedum roofs are durable, visually acceptable, manage rainwater run-off effectively and act as a mini-habitat for wildlife.

• The blocks were designed so that all services are located in a vertical core, with the bathroom and kitchen back-to-back allowing all services to be pre-installed within pre-fabricated pods

• Timber frames were designed so that the windows could be fitted in the factory, aiming for better workmanship and fewer operations on site

• Metal internal door sets were used, with registered positions for hinges and locks meaning that up to twelve times as many doors can be erected on site in a day compared with traditional timber framed doors

• The block paving used for the paths and roadways can be lifted in the event of service or repairs being required, meaning that reinstatement can be carried out with minimal disruption and with no new materials

Environmental Technologies

•Water from baths and hand basins is treated and recycled through a grey water recycling system to be used for flushing toilets

•Surface water from the roofs is collected, treated with UV light to kill bacteria and is then stored for irrigation of the gardens

•Low-flush toilets and water efficient taps are installed to minimise water usage

•Use of efficient recycled cellulose insulation means that the energy loss from these buildings is less than half of the maximum permitted in the Building Regulations

•Solar water heating is provided to augment the domestic hot water production which is otherwise from conventional gas boilers

•Photovoltaic panels are used to generate electricity which is used to supplement the supply from the Grid. The system is remotely monitored by the manufacturer for performance

Intelligent Technologies

•Pre-wired structured cabling system for voice, data, and entertainment services, allowing easy upgrade and modification

•Communal receivers for conventional analogue, digital terrestrial and digital satellite television reception and Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) provide tenants with a maximum of choice for the reception of entertainment services

•Door entry is integrated with existing telephone and television systems, providing functionality and security without the need for expensive stand-alone systems

•Heat from a centralised boiler system is distributed to each unit, where intelligent controls manage the heating load in relation to room temperature, meaning that if the room is already warm enough, the heating will not come on, even though it may be timed to do so

•Heat metering and a Building Management System allow MDHA to diagnose and manage the systems in the buildings from their own offices

•Surplus electricity from the photovoltaic panels is sold back to the electricity supplier and monitoring of incoming and outgoing flows mean that tenants gain a credit on their bill for any electricity which has been fed back

•Remote utility metering has been installed where possible, allowing greater control and transparency of costing to both supplier and tenant

Assessment

This development represents a real step change in the delivery of intelligent and green housing solutions to the mass-market social housing sector. John Pettit, Chief Executive of Housing Solutions, the parent company for MDHA, is convinced: “This is a ground-breaking development for us, as it represents our first truly environmentally friendly and sustainable homes. As the homes are so energy efficient, we believe they will add a new dimension to the definition of affordability in the social housing sector.”

Project Team

Client: Maidenhead & District Housing Association

Architects: Bree Day Partnership

Intelligent Systems: i&i limited

Services Engineer: Oscar Faber

Structural Engineer: Anthony Ward Partnership

Quantity Surveyor: The Andrews Partnership

Health & Safety Planning: Chris Monckton Associates

Contractor: Bickerton Construction