Located in Haslemere, Hampshire, the Eco House Project was a 1200m² low carbon luxury residential development within a woodland setting.

OR Consulting Engineers undertook a feasibility design to support a PPS 7 planning approval, optimising the scheme’s low carbon footprint by:

• Designing the massing of the building to limit the felling of trees to a minimum.
• Using the woodland to shelter and shade the building’s facades.
• Optimising opportunities for natural ventilation and passive cooling.
• Optimising day-lighting.
• Managing the woodland through the coppicing and thinning of trees.
• Treating effluent by employing vertical reed bed technology before discharging to areas of coppicing for final treatment.
• Harvesting woodchip from the coppiced areas to provide a low carbon fuel to fire a biomass boiler (sized to meet base heating load).
• Utilizing low carbon and renewable technologies.