Specifiers Journal 2016

The Old Water Tower, Chieveley, Berkshire
Gresford Architects
The Old Water Tower is a new four
bedroom certified ‘Passivhaus’ family
home on the edge of the village of
Chieveley in West Berkshire.
The house is conceived as a modern
interpretation of the timber framed
barns of the area, that when seen
from the distance reads as a simple,
traditional, agricultural building. On
closer inspection it reveals itself as
a crisply designed, carefully made,
contemporary interpretation of the
historic buildings it draws inspiration
from.
The aim was to create a house that
is on the cutting edge of sustainable
design, yet eschews the “hair shirt”
approach to sustainable living
that many people think of when
considering environmentally friendly
homes. The house is as easy to live
in as any “normal” home, yet costs
virtually nothing to run and could
be entirely self-reliant if a suitable
number of photovoltaic and solar
thermal panels were fitted to the roof.
Another critical aspect of the Passivhaus
way of building is that the house
provides exceptional levels of internal
comfort, year round. A Mechanical
Ventilation & Heat Recovery (MVHR)
unit provides constant background
ventilation, removing stale air and
drawing in fresh air, so the house
always has a fresh, ventilated feel,
while maintaining its warmth.
126 SPECIFIERS JOURNAL
The house has triple glazed windows,
which are openable (debunking
another “Passivhaus” myth which
is that the house must always be
closed) and large triple glazed
sliding doors. External blinds on the
East, South & West elevation are
automatically deployed when the
internal temperature of the house
reaches 21 degrees, thus reducing the
chance of overheating.
The east elevation has small windows,
to reduce heat loss and to avoid
overlooking adjacent houses.
The north elevation has only a few
small windows, as the greatest heat
loss is from this side of the house,
and to avoid privacy issues with the
nearest neighbours.
The house has delightful views over
open countryside to the west, and the
whole orientation of the house has
been geared towards these views,
even though it is not an ideal aspect
from a Passivhaus point of view.
Fenestration is carefully arranged to
take advantage of the views from
key points in the main rooms. All the
windows on the west elevation have
automatic electronic external blinds to
deal with the potential of overheating
due to solar gain.
The garden to the west is raised by
400mm above internal floor level
to allow full views of the landscape
while eating and sitting outside.
The southern elevation has large
windows formally arranged at ground
floor opening onto a big paved
terrace area, while at first floor level
randomly placed small fixed windows
at high level offset the formality of
the facade, and are inspired by the
vernacular openings in dovecotes.
The front door is set deep into the
east elevation, a simple device that
provides a shelter while fumbling for
the keys or taking off muddy boots,
whilst also allowing one to enter the
building in the middle, rather the
edge. The tight entrance porch area
is deliberately enclosed to ensure the
sense of release that stepping into