Future in 'off-the-shelf' housing

Cub by Cube Housing Solutions uses Guardian SunGuard High Performance glass to help meet all of its economical and sustainable credentials.

Charlie Greig is the designer and founder of Cub by Cube Housing Solutions Ltd – a model of sustainable ‘off the shelf housing’ that meets all of the eco and sustainable credentials, whilst being finished to the highest standard at a price that people can afford. The Cub houses are also the only housing solution in the UK that come pre-certified to meet Code 5 of the Code for Sustainable Homes Standard.

The Government targets have been set for the UK to be as close to ‘carbon neutral’ living as possible, by 2016 (domestic) and 2020 (commercial). The current housing stock in the UK is under great scrutiny.

Measures are being put in place now and over the coming years to greatly incentivise the improvement of our homes sustainable credentials. However, these government targets are likely to make the standard for domestic new build even higher and harder to achieve, as new domestic housing will have to be designed and constructed to fit the carbon neutral picture being painted for our futures. Charlie Greig looked into the future of sustainable housing and found a way to achieve these eco and sustainable credentials, in her ‘off the shelf housing’ project.

The Cub housing solution uses responsibly sourced materials. !e buildings are exceptionally airtight, way beyond current building regulation standards, and are fitted with exhaust air heat pumps for space heating, hot water and ventilation. This, along with high levels of insulation within the fabric of the building, ensures that the Cub homes reduce CO² emmisions through heat and energy conservation. The Cub houses also use solar panels, and harvest rainwater. The glazing specification was carefully thought out between Charlie Greig and our SunGuard Architectural Sales manager Paul Anderson, who looked at Charlie’s glazing requirements and found the right glass specification to match the large glazed façade.

The right glazing specification was imperative for Charlie to achieve the desired Code 5 of the Code for Sustainable Homes standard. Our SunGuard High Performance – Neutral 50/32 glass was selected. !is provides a slight respective finish which is visible during the day, allowing privacy for the occupants, whilst maintaining a neutral aesthetic appearance to ensure the views from inside the Cub houses are unspoilt. At night, the Cub houses use blackout curtains to provide complete privacy. The SunGuard High Performance Neutral 50/32 glass has a high visible light transmission to reduce the need for artificial lighting during daylight hours, hen combined with the large glazed façade this delivers an ideal light and spacious feeling of modern day living.

The low solar gain of 32% helps to ensure the building doesn’t overheat. Careful selection of not only the glass but the glazing configuration ensures optimum levels of thermal insulation. !e combination of high performance glass and argon filled cavity achieves excellent centre panel U values of 1.1. The insulating glass units also use Guardian 6.4 laminated glass (LamiGlass®) this helps to provide safety & security to the large glazed areas. The laminated PVB interlayer also removes 99% of UV rays from sunlight passing through the glass, helping to reduce the chance of furniture and fittings inside the Cub houses discolouring due to direct sunlight through the large glazed façade. The laminated glass also improves the acoustic sound control performance of the insulating glass units. !is combination of glazing specification and the buildings fabric means the Cub houses achieve sound reduction levels 4 x better than current Building Regulation Standards.

The Cub houses are a modular based system, and are available in one, three or five bed options, on one, two or three $oors. !e Cub design meets a Code 5 – under the Code for Sustainable Homes, and is supplied already assembled to this standard. The clever modular construction means that the Cub houses are ready to live in within days of arriving on site, making this a true ‘off the shelf housing’ solution. By supplying the houses in prefabricated modules, they meet the tricky requirement of air tightness that are necessary to achieve the Code 5 standard and ensure that the heat recovery system functions correctly with minimal demands on utilities for heating and air conditioning. In fact, the Cub houses are designed and fabricated to run on approximately £1 per week for hot water, heating and ventilation. At £52 per year the Cub homes truly fits the bill of housing for the future.