Welcome to Helios House Welcome to Helios House, the beautiful new Zero Carbon Offices for Solarsense and a demonstration building for renewable energy technology. Generating more energy than it consumes, Helios House provides a regional demonstration centre on renewable energy technology for interested groups to visit (e.g. schools, professionals, local energy co-ops). By practising what we preach, Solarsense has invested in a showcase building that utilises the latest renewable energy technology available for all homes and offices. This exemplary project was accepted for a West of England Regional Growth fund as it provides a real life case study for the West Country to visit and learn from. Designed by leading architects Cavanna Askew. Built by Natural Build and Design company. The building features the latest technology for renewable energy: Fully integrated in-roof solar PV system by GB Sol (82.5 m2 area of panels, 12.85 kwp) Heat battery store by SunAmp (provides hot water throughout the building) Ground source heat pump (underfloor heating) Mechanical Ventilated Heat Recovery System (heat recovery) Electric vehicle charging (electric cars and vans) GB Sol roof integrated PV 12.85 kwp Light and airy interior with glass glass modules Special thank you to architects, Cavanna Askew for their inspirational design work and to Natural Design and Build for delivering the vision.
Celebrating 21 years Solarsense stepped to into the new Zero Carbon Offices in January 2017. Moving only a short distance across the fields from the old warehouse-based offices, the new building instantly provided a warmer, brighter and more airy atmosphere for everyone to work in. According to Stephen Barrett, Managing Director of Solarsense, the vision extends beyond providing a new office space. Producing three times more energy than we consume and with minimal heating requirements, this is the future for all homes and offices. Helios House is an exemplary building to inspire and encourage others to take up the latest technology for reducing energy consumption. Transforming a brown field site with unattractive old buildings into the modern elegant offices that are here today shows what can be achieved. Richard Simon, Solarsense Technical Director commented; The office was designed and built to our specification and it has proved to be everything we expected; light, airy, warm and clean. A joy to be in. The buildings, renewable energy technology and the company has come a long way since Solarsense was first started in 1995. Alex Barrett, Steve s daughter at a village show in 1996. Alex Barrett today, celebrating her 25 th Birthday, 21 years on. Having completed over 10,500 renewable energy installations for customers across the UK, Solarsense is proud to be recognised as the South West s leading solar photovoltaic (PV) installer and one of the UK's leading renewable energy companies. Winning many regional and national awards in recognition of their professional and innovative approach, Solarsense was awarded four industry awards in 2015, including the Solar Power Portal award for the National Installation Company of the Year.
The Architect s Brief The brief was to design a workspace to display renewable energy systems and act as a training centre for new technology. The site will be developed in three phases. Each phase replaces an existing building with a new one of a similar scale and mass. The building provides flexible meeting spaces with a seminar room, breakout area and smaller workspaces on the first floor to accommodate visitors and staff. Building Fabric The materials and construction of the Zero Carbon Office incorporated the following features: Large south-facing roof to maximise the potential for solar electricity generation. Structure glue-laminated frame with timber frame infill. Air permeability and insulation designed to Passivhaus equivalent levels. Cladding to walls and roof is NorClad pressure impregnated treated European Redwood, natural finish to the main building and black painted annex. Windows and doors Internorm high performance triple glazed with low e-coating. Energy Features The building systems include an extensive solar photovoltaic (PV) array of fully integrated panels, smart energy controls, mechanical ventilation and heat recovery (MVHR). Solar PV array o GB Sol manufactured and supplied the ventilated roof integrated monocrystalline solar panels. o The entire array covers an area of 82.5 m2 and delivers a capacity of 12.85 kwp. o SMA Sunnyboy battery to store excess electricity on site for use when the sun has gone to bed. Heat battery store by Sunamp which provides the hot water throughout the building: o 5 kwh heat battery o Designed to fit under a kitchen unit (300 mm deep by 530 mm wide and 740 mm high). o The battery takes excess electricity generated by the solar PV array on the roof of the building and uses this to heat the water. Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery (MVHR) o Paul Novus 450: 60-450 m3/h at 150 Pa. o 89% heat recovery (Passivhaus certified). o Extremely silent operation. o Constant volume flow; adjusts fan power to keep the system balanced. o Automatic 100% summer bypass; programmable with weekly timer.
o TFT touchscreen. Ground Source Heat Pump by Kensa o This provides hot water for the space heating system (i.e. the underfloor heating). Building Management Systems (BMS) o Loxone Smart Home intelligent automation. o App based control of lighting, heating, MVHR, roof windows via central miniserver. o Monitor daily weather conditions and ability for system to learn the users habits in relation to the internal and external environment and adapt accordingly. o Monitoring of energy production/usage and ability to divert excess power to heating water/battery storage. U Values i o Roof: 0.13 W/m2K o Wall: 0.15 w/m2k o Floor: 0.15 w/m2k o Windows and doors: 0.74 W/m2K, 35 db sound reduction o Roof windows: 0.97 W/m2K, 33db sound reduction Air permeability o N50 Passivhaus: 0.34m3/h.m3 LED lighting throughout. EV charging for one electric vehicle and two more coming soon. Q&A How much did the building cost? The cost of the new building was around 350,000 and it was accepted for a 65,000 grant from the West of England Growth Fund in recognition of the benefits to the region. How is the building heated? The building has underfloor heating and is very well insulated resulting in minimal heat requirements. In addition, any heat generated from computers, people and lights is recovered through the MVHR system which captures any waste heat. How do you heat the hot water? The water in the kitchen and bathroom is heated from the thermal store using any excess electricity. How much electricity do you use on site? We use about a third of the electricity that is generated from the solar PV array and about the same amount as the average 4 bedroom house at around 5 kwp. Generating more electricity than we use, any spare electricity is stored in the thermal heat store and the remaining electricity is exported to the grid. Do you export any electricity to the grid? Yes, we produce more electricity than we use ourselves. What else is there on site? We have electric vehicle charge points and run an electric van. We also have bees and apple trees making this site a mini-wildlife haven.
For more information please contact: Solarsense on 01275 461800 o Stephen Barrett, Managing Director (Stephen.Barrett@solarsense-uk.com) o Richard Simon, Technical Director (Richard.Simon@solarsense-uk.com) Cavanna Askew on 0117 924 4606 o Chris Askew, Architect (ca@askewarchitects.co.uk) GB Sol on 01443 841811 o Bruce Cross, Managing Director GB Sol (bcross@gb-sol.co.uk) Sunamp on 01875 632292 o Andy Trewin on 07912 760 012 (andy.trewin@sunamp.co.uk) Reference: i U Values The U-value indicates the heat lost through a given thickness of a particular material. The best insulating materials have a U-value close to zero the lower the better. Building regulations currently stipulate that for a new building, the elements must have maximum U-values: Roof 0.15 W/m2k Wall 0.3 W/m2k Windows 1.6 W/m2k