Lindab’s steel based Rainline rainwater drainage system was specified for a unique eco house which was featured in an episode of the popular TV programme - Grand Designs.
‘Crossway’ in Kent, is one of the first zero carbon houses in the UK and is based on an ancient European construction design called a timbrel vault which features a dramatic curved roof structure.
Architect, Richard Hawkes, of Hawkes Architecture, who not only designed and project managed the development but owns the house too, utilised the latest eco technologies for its construction including: eco-concrete foundations laid to support a series of timber framed ‘boxes’ which formed the main body of the two storey house. The ‘boxes’ were insulated with recycled newspaper and then clad in English cedar. Large, air tight triple glazed windows were installed to help heat the house using the power of the sun.
To help conserve heat, the whole building was enveloped in a metalised airtight membrane fitted with a ventilation system to recover heat from the air. Over this, the dramatic parabolic roof structure was
constructed, totally unsupported by the building - the
first of its type in the UK.
The arch is built using 26,000 handmade local clay tiles glued together with plaster of Paris. The underside is visible from the rooms below.
The external elevations of the roof also includes a graphite polystyrene insulant over which a series of geo textile membranes and 300mm of gravel and soil to allow wild grasses and flowers to seed was installed.
This house is so experimental that Cambridge University has sensors embedded throughout the building to monitor its performance.
Richard Hawkes specified Lindab’s Rainline rainwater drainage system for Crossway because, as he says ‘it’s not plastic, it is much more durable and it looks good too – it’s as simple as that’.
