Our hempcrete house near Dunbar is going up much faster than we expected. In fact, the construction process is quicker than for an equivalent timber-framed house. This is because the qualities of all the components of a traditional wall are met by the hempcrete alone – with the exception of the structural frame. Unfortunately Hempcrete’s […]
Our client has moved into her new, four-bedroom Passivhaus in central Edinburgh. It was quite a journey, through Covid and escalating material costs, but we got there and the client is delighted. In fact we have achieved a Scottish Building Standards ‘Gold’ sustainability label it. The Scottish Building Standards Sustainability labelling is a broader endorsement
Halvorsen Architects are lucky enough to have water features going into two current projects. Last week I visited one that’s going beside a new hempcrete house outside Dunbar. It will be fed by rainwater from the roof, and form a focus of the garden, visible from the main rooms. I have learned a lot from the
Halvorsen Architects have just finished an extension to and remodelling of a house in Winchburgh, West Lothian. The core of this house was a 19th-century cottage which has been extended many times, most recently in the 1970s. Halvorsen Architects were asked to add further accommodation and reconfigure the existing house to make the most of
Planning permission has been approved for a new building at Happy Days nursery Hardengreen branch in Midlothian. It is located in mature woodland and is a playful take on a timber cabin. It is raised off the ground, on piles so as not to disturb the tree roots, with a south-facing deck. The north facing
Concrete accounts for 8% of CO2 emissions, far higher than aviation at 2.5%. So if we are to help stop climate change we need to stop using concrete. Even the ‘more sustainable’ forms of concrete that replace some of the Portland cement with alternatives such as granulated blast furnace flag and fly ash have their
It was with great joy that I received some photos from an Edinburgh client of their wild flower garden blooming this spring. It has been frustrating not to be able to pay my usual site visits, with work on several sites coming to a halt under the Civid19 lock down. These photos are of the
Halvorsen Architects have just finished major works to a house in the Grange, a conservation area on Edinburgh’s south side which was first developed as an early suburb from the 1820s. The clients were keen to expand their Georgian villa in as sustainable as possible. We considered several measures, including renewable heating, insulation and airtightness. With
For children to learn, it is essential that they take some risks and this is something pupils at Happy Days nursery, Eskbank are now able to do thanks to the new Halvorsen Architects-designed play area at the site. The playground was completed in June and the children are clambering excitedly all over the trees and
Pre-school pupils recently moved into their new brand classroom at Happy Days nursery, Hardengreen, near Dalkeith. The client wanted an extension to its existing nursery, which could be quickly constructed in order to help alleviate a growing waiting list. Halvorsen Architects response was to deliver a simple, timber-framed structure that is clad in Scottish larch.
Halvorsen Architects have just completed phase I of a new playground at Happy Days’ Eskbank nursery school. All the oak and larch trees were sourced from nearby woodland – trees that otherwise have no commercial value and were due for clearance. A tree lorry carrying all the wood just sneezed through the nursery gates and
Last week I was in Slovenia for a tour of Riko’s timber factory in Ribnica, about an hour’s drive south of the capital Ljubljiana. I was invited there to look at their facilities as I am intending to make the Woodland Nursery out of timber, or — more specifically — out of cross-laminated timber panels
Horntails, or wood wasps, have made their nests in the internal oak trees supporting the roof of Halvorsen Architects’ recently completed Happy Days nursery extension, along with several other species of insect! Rather than be alarmed at their new, uninvited guests, the creative and environmentally-friendly nursery has embraced the chance to study wildlife indoors and set their under fives a
Good article about new ways of looking at classroom design by John McDermott of the Economist. Just what I am doing for Happy Days nurseries.
This is an abridged version of an article for the next issue of Association of Scottish Hardwood Sawmillers. If I had known how difficult this project was going to be, would I have still done it in the way I did? – absolutely! Genesis (J&T) Ltd., owner of a successful pre-school nursery chain in Midlothian asked me
Planning permission has now been granted for a new nursery building that we have designed for Happy Days, in Eskbank, Midlothian. Midlothian Council planners refused to give consent last December, but the Local Review Body (comprised of Midlothian councillors) overturned their decision earlier this week. Happy Days moved in to Hardengreen House – a large
Last week I spent another glorious day surveying trees in woodland near Abbey St. Bathans in the Scottish Borders. These are to be used as posts and beams in two new buildings that I am designing for Happy Days, a nursery in Dalkeith. But we’re not just looking for any old posts and beams – we’re
Halvorsen Architects was recently granted planning permission to enlarge Happy Days nursery near Edinburgh, for a design that reinforces the pre-school facility’s green ethos. The client, Genesis, which owns and operates several nurseries across Scotland’s central belt, chose Halvorsen Architects after seeing our timber building projects with local primary schools. Genesis promotes a healthy lifestyle
New build at Eco-Nursery using natural materials Read More »
Marijuana may be great for getting high, but the architectural value of cannabis is in the industrial hemp that forms a vital ingredient of products including hempcrete. Hempcrete is low-tech natural building material made from the chopped stalk of the hemp plant and a lime-based binder. It is carbon-negative in that it absorbs carbon dioxide
Planning permission has been approved for two separate, new, four-bedroomed houses designed by Halvorsen Architects in rural Midlothian. They are both in the beautiful area around Crichton Castle, with one actually overlooking the ruined keep. Midlothian Council was concerned about the impact the houses might have on this area of outstanding natural beauty, so great
