The Oxley Woods Prefab Housing Development In London.

January 3rd, 2008 • Related • Filed Under
oxley-1.jpg


Well, that sure didn’t last long. Just 8 days after talking about not being able to find worthwhile prefab houses to cover, the new issue of Dwell shows up in the mailbox with a little story about “EcoHats” and a prefab development in London called Oxley Woods. This is a pretty big community made up of panelized structures that are built off-site, transported, filled with recycled-paper insulation, and put together in about seven days. Not bad, huh? Especially not for about $121,000 U.S. dollars!

oxley-layout.jpg


The buildings vary in size from 700 to 1,615 square feet and can have as many as 5 bedrooms. To minimize expenses and to help the homes run more efficiently, all service areas (kitchen, bath, etc) are standard and centrally located in each model. The picture above is of the entire development.

oxley-2.jpg


The best part of these homes is the EcoHat that each one has, which is a solar array that is hidden in a box atop each home. The solar panels in the boxes heats air and sends it into the house for heating the home, or it can be used to heat hot water. That surely solves the “I think solar is ugly” argument.

Check out the Oxley Woods development for more info on the houses.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Share and Enjoy:
  • E-mail this story to a friend!
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Print this article!
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • TwitThis

You may also like:

  1. Prefab Wednesday - The FlatPak House.
  2. Quick Green Reads For The Weekend Volume Eighty Three.
  3. Old Shipping Containers Could Be Inexpensive Homes For Many People.
  4. Quick Green Reads For The Weekend Volume 119.
  5. Solar Power Systems That Serve Entire Neighborhoods.



Related Websites


Like this post? If so, please consider subscribing to my full feed RSS. Or, if you would prefer, you can subscribe by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox:

Enter your email address in the box below. Your email will only be used to deliver a daily email and you can unsubscribe at any time.

There Are 5 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by Paul on 1 November 2008:

    We purchased one of the Oxley Woods eco houses in the summer of 2008, for several reasons, both design and environmental, and have had a serious roller coaster of a ride so far, lots of good, and an awful lot of bad too!

    Love the design, love the idea, but the execution, certainly in our case, leaves a lot to be desired I’m afraid.

  2. Comment by jeff on 4 April 2009:

    Dear Paul,

    I am a Canadian who is excited about the opportunity to build the system as in RSH+P/Newton Wood JV and bring it to Canada.

    I am traveling to London to meet the architects.
    Please share with me your concerns as to the ” roller coaster” and awful bad please.

    Regards

    Jeff

  3. Comment by Greg on 9 April 2009:

    As a builder pursuing the concept of a modern, pre-fab, co-housing development I would also be interested in the feedback from a buyer of a similar system.

    For example, what do you mean by, …”the execution, certainly in our case, leaves a lot to be desired”….?

    It is important that forward thinking projects do not get mired in the pitfalls of mass production while maintaining the cost/waste advantages of such a system.

  4. Comment by Paul on 16 June 2009:

    I’ve been trying to reply here with a little bit of trouble, apologies for not responding sooner.

    Basically the problems with the properties (and ours in particular) seem to be in the design and construction, focusing mostly on the window areas.

    Since July last year we have suffered from rainwater penetrating the building in several locations, and this is still ongoing and has the site manager “baffled”.

    It seems there are inherent design and/or manufacturing issues with the window frames (which are now on their third clearly visible revision on the development) and the area around the windows where there is, by design, no flashing or additional weatherproofing.

    The eco hats also offer very little by way of “hot water” when and if you pay for the passive solar upgrade as we did. According to Nuaire (the manufacturer/supplier) at best they “take the edge off” the cold water, meaning it takes less energy to heat it back up. We’re not entirely convinced it does even that to be honest, the temperature readouts seem quite dubious.

    Feel free to visit my blog (click my name for a link) and email me directly if you have other questions. We’re very saddened by this as we want this sort of development to become much more the “norm”, and we love the principals of the development, but it just isn’t working out for us at all.

  5. Comment by David on 16 June 2009:

    Thanks for letting us know Paul, appreciate that!

Post a Response

Lijit Search

Disclaimer
The contents of this website are provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as advice. While all information shared here is believed to be accurate, the owner/operator of this website specifically disclaims all warranties expressed, implied or statutory, regarding the accuracy, timeliness, and/or completeness of the information contained herein. Please discuss any specific needs with a qualified professional.