A refurbished Sixties office building transformed into a sustainable paradise has been named the best green housing scheme in the South West. The building in Mina Road, St Werburghs, now consists of six flats, three workspaces and a community room used for a variety of activities including yoga and acupuncture. The building’s strong green credentials, which were enhanced by the use of energy saving materials like double glazing, impressed judges at the South West Green Energy Awards. Its green features include double glazing a communal wood pellet boiler and solar thermal and electric panels, meaning the majority of the building's heating and hot water are provided from renewable sources.
Wood pellet boilers are fully automatic, just like oil and gas versions, but because the amount of fuel and air being supplied to the combustion chamber is tightly controlled, they are efficient with low emissions. Solar panels heat the water going into the hot tank, saving money. The building also has good insulation and double-glazing to keep the heat in.
The decision to refurbish the building rather than demolish it and build new homes not only allowed more energy to be saved during construction. What’s more the fact energy saving materials, like double glazing, were used to carry out the refurbishment also contributed to save vast amounts of energy.
The building was the idea of volunteers from the Ashley Vale Action Group (AVAG), a group of residents who live in the eco-homes at the end of Mina Road on the site of a former scaffolding yard.
One of the residents who live in the flats in the building is Rhian Sherrington, 39, a project manager at sustainable transport charity Sustrans.
Mrs Sherrington and her husband Chris paid £40,000 before construction work started and fitted out their new flat themselves. Mrs Sherrington said: "It's been a challenging but rewarding process, working with our neighbours to turn this building into a wonderful home. We now feel a real part of this community. The energy efficient materials such as the new double glazing have made a big diffrence.”
"It has been a very exciting project to be involved in and now it's a great place to live. This part of St Werburghs is a little oasis. I wake up in the morning, hearing birds and seeing squirrels. It's a little bit of countryside in Bristol."
Jackson Moulding, a director of AVAG, said that he was delighted that the building had won the accolade. David Dimbleby presented him and the other directors with the award at a ceremony in Bath.
Mr Moulding said: "We are very excited to receive this award, and hope that we can use our success in Ashley Vale to support schemes elsewhere in Bristol and the South West. There's a different way of doing things. It's great that we have won the award but it should be that what we have done here is the norm.
"I think it's a great achievement that we have managed to bring this building back to life but to me it doesn't feel that there's any other way it could have been done. All buildings in the future should be like this, I truly believe that."
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