SPELLER METCALFE’S ECO VICARAGE LABELLED ‘BRITAIN’S GREENEST HOME’

One of their recent projects – an eco vicarage built for the Diocese of Worcester – has been dubbed the ‘greenest home in Britain’ and used as a learning tool for local children to educate them about sustainability and the environment.

The house has been built as part of the Church of England’s aim to reduce their carbon footprint by a huge 80 per cent over the next few years, and reduces the energy cost of running the previous vicarage by 90 per cent, from £2000 to just £100 a year.

The house is also ‘zero carbon’ and doesn’t require central heating, with no CO₂ emissions being released whatsoever, instead using a range of features to keep the house running; solar and PV (photovoltaic) panels are visible on the roof, ground heat warms air being pumped into the house and rainwater is harvested to flush toilets, as well as the use of large windows to capitalise on sunlight and heat.

The Vicar is keenly undertaking a detailed study of the running cost of the building; daily monitoring of PV generation, solar thermal heating, electricity consumption and internal/external temperatures, which will contribute to and inform future projects by Speller Metcalfe.

Bill Cave, Small Works Director who oversaw the project, said: “This was a great achievement by the whole team and shows how Speller Metcalfe continues to stay at the forefront of industry and its developments, particularly within environmental technologies.”