Case Studies

Eco houses in Jersey

1. Warwick House, St Helier

"We consider living and working in a way that reduces our impact on the planets resources to be our obligation and commitment in life"

A vegetarian bed and breakfast that also runs murder mystery weekends! For more details contact Maya and Paul at functionallives@mac.com

Water saving

  • low flush toilets
  • choose not to put a bath in the premises
  • redirected rain water from the roof into our well (we do not use this for drinking)
  • put in plumbing that at a future date could be used to direct grey water into the garden or be reused in the house

Energy saving

  • put in a wood burning stove for central heating
  • masses of insulation
  • secondary glazing
  • thermal curtains
  • Sempatap lining on walls
  • put in a solar heating panel
  • a sun pipe to light a dark shower room
  • low energy light bulbs
  • use natural ventilation
  • blocked up holes
  • made doors fit better
  • putting turn off switches on the shower room fans so they don’t automatically come on every time you go into the shower room.

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Waste management

  • introduced composting of kitchen and garden waste
  • reused a lot of materials on site
  • recycled old glass in windows

Low embodied energy

  • used cork tiles for floors in kitchen and shower rooms
  • reused and recycled building materials, bought second hand items for the home and building works
  • natural grasses and wool carpets, felt underlay

Minimising other ecological impact

  • do not use chemicals in house or garden
  • use biodegradable products for cleaning
  • introduced native plants into garden
  • don’t ‘tidy’ the garden or cut the grass
  • growing some of own food,
  • organic cotton covers for chairs and curtains
  • environmentally friendly paint
  • renewed windows with hardwood sashes

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The initiatives that worked best at Warwick House were:

The insulation, solar panel, paint/varnish, Sempatap (get from Normans)

Financial impact

It costs more initially because we were putting in things that most people don’t ie) insulation, sun pipes, solar panels, secondary glazing etc. However, in the long run these should pay off both in terms of reduced running costs and future users of the house will find it has been designed to accommodate changes in external environment.

The most expensive thing was the paint but in terms of keeping the ‘health’ of the house and the people in it, it was well worth it.

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Advice from the people who have done it!

Make sure you are very, very hands on. Read around the subject, get prepared, know what you want, employ firms with a good reputation, make sure you have a good contract with anyone you are employing especially around what will happen if it goes over budget or something goes wrong at a later stage. Will they come back and sort it out?

Be prepared to buy second hand, advertise for what you want, buy in bulk and order out side of the Island if needs be.

Make sure you will be allowed to do what you are doing, don’t buy expecting agreement to your plans make sure beforehand.

If you are buying an old house get the best survey done, use this to negotiate the buying price don’t buy something you will go into negative equity over putting right.

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Remember to budget appropriately and have a contingency fund (it always goes over), keep on top of your finances and only put in what you planned to, a good deal on more expensive tiles for the kitchen may seem like a treat but not at the expense of other things that will also need paying for.

When working with a firm make sure the people sent understand what your requirements are as well as the boss who you discussed your plans with.

Don’t be put off Jersey has a lot of resources and a lot of people open and willing to come on board and will help you out. Don’t think you won’t do it because it will cost you and to your mind no one else cares. This is not the case. It is not as hard as you think but it does take time and planning there is no quick fix to this but at the end of it you are living in a house that is wonderful to live in, has lower running costs, will ‘work’ regardless of environmental changes to come and you feel you have done you bit regardless

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