Balancing Retrofit vs New Build to win planning approval for Maru House
< Back to InsightsWe’re very pleased to share that planning has been approved by Ealing council of Maru House.
This project started out as a retrofit project to renew a semi-detached home in West Ealing and improve its comfort and sustainability. The building was in poor condition – it was structurally unstable, and the interior suffered from damp and recurring black mould. It had been extended haphazardly and the spaces were awkward for the family to live in.
Retrofit vs newbuild approaches
After thoroughly exploring our options, and discussing the project with Ealing Council at Pre-app, we teamed up with Webb Yates engineers to do a Whole Life Carbon analysis to see what benefit there would be in continuing with our retrofit approach – albeit now with significant areas of rebuilding – versus how a sustainable new build scheme would compare.
We considered two retrofit options – one using masonry structural repairs and one with timber, as well as our timber framed new build, and benchmarked all the options against a ‘do nothing’ approach. We looked at both embodied carbon and operational carbon, and considered the whole life of the home.
With this data in front of us, we decided the best route was to follow a low-carbon new-build route. It would have a similar impact as the masonry led retrofit option, and would be slightly less energy intensive to run. We were grateful to Webb Yates’ clear and practical approach to modelling the data, and surprised that the difference in this instance was so small. This gave us the evidence to present to the planning department that Maru House will fit with the borough’s net zero carbon goals.
Building a Home
Our new build design for the semi detached home keeps the rhythm and form of the 1930s semi detached houses that make up the local area, reinterpreting it as a contemporary, simplified form. Inside, the five bedroom home is reorganised across two floors , creating a home that has a sense of movement, light and balance.
For our clients, their new/ old home will be fit for the future, as well as serving them as a comfortable, energy-efficient and joyful place to live.
Now that we have been given the go ahead at planning, we can’t wait to get on site to make our client’s home whole again.
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