The first day of construction of Sky House Sussex was an unbelievable thrill to watch. No wonder the ratings figures for Grand Designs are always so high when timber framed houses are featured. There is something endlessly fascinating about seeing part of your new house suspended high in the air dangling from a massive 40 tonne crane. Years of planning and we finally get to witness the realisation of our dream…it’s heart-racing stuff. We were blessed with perfect May weather too: a cloudless blue sky and sunshine must surely be a good omen.

The consignment of 1 x  timber framed sustainable eco house for Client Burgess had left the Baufritz factory in southern Germany on Bank Holiday Monday and crossed the Channel via the Eurotunnel: Achtung! wide load. From Dover it headed to the designated transhipping site, an old cement works site in Halland near Lewes. Here the container was opened up and one smaller lorry delivered the packs to site, one at a time. You can see from the pictures the breathtaking speed at which the ground floor was erected – we were given the keys to the front door on Day One as it was going to be locked up that night.

The Baufritz team worked with cool, calm, quiet efficiency – reassuringly we knew we were watching skillful pros at work. Although we’ve shipped a house from the continent to the UK, manufacture time in Germany was just three days and within four days of on-site construction we will have a two-storey house structure with roof (weather permitting). This short timescale affords huge benefits: the low energy, efficient construction process is delivering a “carbon negative” house with an average carbon balance of minus 50 tonnes upon delivery: more CO2 is locked away than is emitted during its manufacture, transportation and construction. Not to mention that the factory prefabrication has meant low noise levels and clean construction methods on site, resulting in minimal disturbance to our neighbours.

Other sustainable aspects of our new house construction include:

  • All materials are recyclable, fully biodegradable and thus sustainable: timber-only structure as well as internal fit out materials
  • Maximum energy savings from top quality triple glazed windows with highest thermal performance and no thermal-bridging
  • Minimum energy consumption as a result of 37cm thick energy-efficient timber walls
  • Excellent heat protection: Certified Cradle-to-Cradle thermal insulation using natural materials for walls, ceilings and roof. Wood off-cuts become shavings treated with soda and whey making them fire, fungus and pesticide resistant.
  • For more information about the house, please visit the ‘Sustainability’ page of this blog

We’d love to hear what you think about the construction methods and materials we’ve chosen – do drop us a line.