Green innovation was at the forefront of designs for a stunning
award-winning family home at Manaton, in the heart of secluded
Dartmoor.
Rhepanol hg was selected for the three distinctive green roofs that
help to shape the character of the large four-bedroomed Devon
property, which incorporates a raft of measures to minimise its
environmental impact.
Architect Peter Hall of Van der Steen Hall in Chagford was asked to
create the house as a permanent home on the site of the owner’s
well-used holiday bungalow. Materials from the bungalow were
recycled and used in the new house.
He said: ‘We chose Rhepanol membrane and accessories for the complex
and varied profiles of the roof planes – very different from the
predominantly flat areas of grass-roofed office blocks – because of
the help and advice we received from the approved subcontractor and
from the D&T representative.’
The roof, which covers a total of 250sqm, was key to creating a home
in harmony with its rural setting. It complements the unique
ground-hugging lines of the house and outbuildings, which are set
down into the sloping countryside, nestling in surrounding woods and
farmland to create a ‘magical’ setting.
The roof make-up comprised natural, local meadow grass and
site-excavated topsoil on cuspated drainage layer/root barrier on
Rhepanol hg with stainless steel gravel stop profile – adhered to
membrane at perimeter and at intervals up steep slopes. The Rhepanol
hg membrane was laid over softwood boarded roof, dressed into
softwood eaves gutters and onto top of the fascia. Rhepanol also
forms fascia, cill and jambs of the window in the roof.
As the grass roof, thick granite walls and oak joinery slowly
weather, they will blend into the surrounding landscape. There are
also plans, for the future, to provide heating and hot water by
extracting heat from the surrounding ground.
Said Peter Hall: ‘The natural materials, high insulation levels,
thermal inertia and ground-hugging profile all contribute towards a
very low environmental impact.’
The Manaton house was awarded the RIBA Arnold Sayers Housing Design
Award.
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