Building of the Year is super-insulated, super-warm ‘retro-fit’ Durham home

A CARBON-NEUTRAL County Durham home, ‘Shepherd’s Barn’ in Lanchester, has been crowned North East Building of the Year 2022 by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Architect Mark Siddall, of LEAP (Lovingly Engineered Architectural Practice), in Crossgate Moor, Durham, received the award from RIBA at a prestigious ceremony in London this week.

And he hopes, along with his clients, Paul and Sony Shepherd, that the national spotlight on the barn will encourage others to retrofit their homes to save money and energy and help protect the planet.

With the house being so energy-efficient, and because it also includes an array of photovoltaic solar panels, the house generates more energy than it uses.

This means, that even before the energy crisis, Paul and Sonny were able to live in a bill-free home.

Protected from rising fuel prices, the super-insulated barn conversion is the North East’s first project to meet the Passivhaus EnerPHit PLUS standard for retro-fitted energy-efficient homes. It is also the region’s first home to satisfy the RIBA 2030 Challenge, another set of ambitious sustainability targets.

A pioneer of sustainable design, Mark said: “The fuel crisis and rising energy bill crisis could be solved overnight if homes were built or retrofitted to Passivhaus standards.

“I’m delighted that RIBA has recognised the social importance of the work at Shepherd’s Barn and I hope that both the Government and the public quickly take up the challenge of retro-fitting homes.

“The best way to slash energy bills, avoid fuel poverty and address the climate crisis is to retro-fit our homes, and once these measures are taken, they produce savings that are permanent, not temporary.”  

The Shepherd’s Barn project has already picked up four regional awards over the last 12-months – the 2022 RIBA North East Award, the 2022 RIBA Sustainability Award, the 2022 RIBA Client of the Year Award, and the LABC Building Excellence Award, and has been highly commended at the ASPB Best Building Awards.

But the national award brings its own focus on the ground-breaking work at Paul and Sonny Shepherd’s home.

The one-and-a-half-storey house has been optimised for comfort, which means it stays cosy in the summer and the winter, whilst minimising the energy used for heating and hot water.

According to UK calculation methods, the building achieves zero carbon status with insulation, ventilation heat recovery and exceptional draught-proofing. It has solar panels, a Tesla power wall and makes creative use of brownfield land.

Existing materials were retained wherever possible and new materials were chosen to avoid unnecessary carbon emissions.

Last February, the owners of Shepherd’s Barn took part in an experiment where they switched off the heating system to see how long they could remain comfortable during cold weather.

Ten days later they switched the heating back on, at which point the average temperature was 18.5C. A nearby regular 1920s semi-detached house which also took part in the challenge survived for less than 11 hours as the average temperature dropped below 17C!

Measurements have also shown that Shepherd’s Barn is an astonishing 60 times more draught-proof than a standard UK home.

Mark added: “It’s an honour and a privilege to have worked with Paul and Sonny on the project, and it’s tremendous that their vision and foresight have been recognised.

“Whilst it is personally gratifying to be associated with this award-winning project, when we are faced with a climate and biodiversity emergency, I’m more excited about how the project and these awards can be used to raise the profile of what good architecture is today and what it should be in the future.”

A citation for the Barn at the RIBA Awards noted: “The judges were particularly impressed that it is the North East’s first certified Passivhaus retro-fit.

“The home achieves Zero Carbon status, achieving significantly better operational energy and embodied carbon figures than those set out in the RIBA 2030 targets for Operational and Whole Life Embodied Carbon for residential buildings. 

“Shepherd’s Barn is not only an exemplar project as far as its sustainability credentials go, but it is also a home and, to quote the judges, “with such a heart”. 

“The architect working on this project has extensive knowledge on sustainable design and has inspired their client to embrace and to further educate themselves in the relevant aspects of sustainable design and construction in their journey.”

• You can discover more about the Passivhaus standards for construction by visiting the Passivhaus Institute here.