News about ecological homes, Retrofit and newbuild

A Day at Haw Lane Passivhaus

23.09.26

A visit to the almost completed Haw Lane Passivhaus in the Chiltern Hills offered an opportunity to experience both the building and its remarkable landscape. While the team photographed and filmed the project, they also experienced how the Passivhaus performs during summer heat, with external shading and a highly insulated, airtight envelope helping maintain a comfortable internal temperature. The visit also coincided with sightings of red kites, a species successfully reintroduced to the Chilterns after becoming extinct in England.

Sustainable architecture in Islington and Hackney: working with conservation and climate

22.09.26

Sustainable architecture in Islington and Hackney means balancing the environmental performance of existing homes with their historic character. Conservation areas, listed buildings and planning restrictions can affect how measures such as insulation, solar panels, new glazing, heat pumps and extensions are introduced. At Arboreal Architecture, we approach this as a design challenge: improving energy efficiency, reducing embodied carbon and supporting biodiversity while responding carefully to the existing building, its materials and its surroundings. Green roofs, solar roofs, fabric-first retrofit and carefully integrated renewable technologies can all contribute to a lower-carbon home when considered as part of the architecture from the outset.

The London Homeowner’s Guide to EnerPHit: Retrofitting Historic Properties

15.09.26

An EnerPHit retrofit is the official global standard for upgrading an existing building using Passivhaus principles. To achieve EnerPHit certification in the UK, a property must drastically lower its heating demand- typically down to 25 kWh/m² per year - while dramatically improving indoor air quality and eliminating drafts.

For London homeowners, applying this standard to historic solid-wall properties (such as Victorian, Georgian, or Edwardian terraces) is the ultimate way to future-proof a home against rising energy costs while preserving its architectural heritage.