Hamlin Gardens

Exeter City Living is an innovative and sustainable housing developer, with a mission to create healthy homes that deliver on its principles of social, financial and environmental responsibility. When it progressed plans for its latest development of 21 Passivhaus homes in the city, the housebuilder’s goal was to futureproof its homes for a decarbonised grid as well as, crucially, creating a community that would put the comfort and wellbeing of the residents front and centre.

Hamlin Gardens is a four-storey development in Exeter consisting of 11 two-bed and 10 one-bed apartments. Designed by Gale & Snowden Architects, the development covers an area of land of approximately 1800m2 which is helping meet the need for quality and affordable housing within the local area.

Here, we take a look at the development and why Exeter City Living worked with Wienerberger to specify its solution for the building envelope. 

When working with the Gale & Snowden team to design the Passivhaus homes, Exeter City Living wanted to go beyond the minimum requirements of the building regulations and Passivhaus standards to create healthy homes. This is where the importance of a fabric-first approach comes in.

Adopting fabric-first thinking for the specification of materials helps reduce energy demand for heating, ventilation, hot water and lighting.

The construction team specified Wienerberger’s Porotherm Monolithic system for use on both the internal and external walls of the development, in conjunction with its Nevada Buff bricks.

This innovative system has been a mainstay of construction across Europe for decades and since its introduction into the UK in 2008, become well established as an alternative to traditional masonry, such as concrete blocks, and other systems such as timber or lightweight steel frames.

Using the traditional values of clay material, it delivers versatile, high-performance, and sustainable walls. Crucially, the excellent thermal properties of Porotherm Monolithic enables you to achieve required u-values without the need of extra insulation while reducing overheating, creating a stable and even all-year-round internal temperature with the high Thermal Mass nature that clay provides if used in conjunction with other breathable wall materials you can also help to regulate room humidity meaning occupants benefit from a breathable, healthier living environment.

Another key consideration for the team was to minimise disruption on site.

The development was located in a pre-existing quiet residential area which meant Exeter City Living also had to consider how the development would affect those living in the local area.

The bricklaying team working on-site at Hamlin Gardens are huge advocates of Porotherm Monolithic  blocks due to the timesaving and safety benefits during the in-build stages. The blocks are lighter than concrete allowing the site teams to maintain a steady production rate without the risk of repetitive strain injuries, so less time is required to build.

In fact, due to the ease of build, Porotherm Monolithic blocks offered the team the capability of achieving storey height within a day’s work due to the fast setting thin joint mortar and mortarless perp ends. This allowed the building to become watertight weeks before that possible with traditional construction methods allowing internal trades to begin quicker, with the external brick taken off critical path. The thin joint mortar which is applied with a roller also results in less water and cement usage on site, making for a cleaner, more environmentally friendly site and a lower dermatological risk.

When using Porotherm Monolithic blocks, only one product is needed, therefore less stock is required on-site and there’s considerably less waste to dispose of at the end of the construction period.

Once the development is complete, Exeter City Living will have 21 low-energy-cost homes built to Passivhaus standard, supporting the local council’s net zero plan. For those living in the properties, these Passivhaus apartments will provide a whole host of benefits, most notably, the thermal efficiency of the walls which will significantly reduce heating costs for residents in the apartments.

The community will offer a sustainable mix of new home sizes to suit all different families and supported by more sustainable transport measures, including a bike shelter and local bus route. All of these benefits combined, tenants will notice a significant improvement to their wellbeing and health.

Bringing a host of advantages to homeowners, Exeter City Living is leading the way for other housebuilders to introduce Passivhaus properties to their offering.