Carbon Neutrality Project: Hook Norton Community Housing

Project – Hook Norton Community Housing

Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, England

• Designer: Charlie Luxton Design
• Type: Community Housing
• Achievement: Carbon neutrality both during construction and occupation
• One Click LCA Expert: SOLID Structures & Infrastructure
• One Click LCA used for: Model the potential for carbon neutrality of the structural and civil engineering elements. 

Hook Norton Low Carbon Community Housing project comprises 12 dwellings units, a community building and a new shared outdoor space designed by Charlie Luxton Design. The project has recently been submitted for planning.  

The homes combine design and environmental merit and will be built to Passivhaus standard. By achieving a high level of air-tightness, maximum comfort with low running costs and reduced carbon emissions will be ensured. The houses are positioned on the site to make the most of renewable energy features like solar photo-voltaic panels with an extensive array on each roof and on the community building.

Our LCA expert SOLID Structures & Infrastructure has used One Click LCA for:

• Comparing the whole life cycle assessment of 2 design options (which followed RICS building stages): 1) steel frames and pile foundations vs. 2) timber frame and trench fill foundations. Option 2 yielded better performance.
• Benchmarking embodied carbon performance of the structure in relation to residential development in Europe, thus, revealing potential for improvement on material selection.
• Identifying material constituents of the structure that could be replaced/reduced by looking at the details on their distribution within the fabric of the building.