Comments on: The Oxley Woods Prefab Housing Development In London. http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/01/03/the-oxley-woods-prefab-housing-development-in-london/ Sustainability, Environment, Progressive Politics, Peak Oil, Going Green. Sun, 12 Feb 2012 20:40:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Iain Cochran http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/01/03/the-oxley-woods-prefab-housing-development-in-london/#comment-21665 Iain Cochran Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:08:11 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/01/03/the-oxley-woods-prefab-housing-development-in-london/#comment-21665 I went to Oxley Woods today. It's fantastic but it's not in London. It's in Milton keynes which is about 40 miles away. I went to Oxley Woods today. It’s fantastic but it’s not in London. It’s in Milton keynes which is about 40 miles away.

]]> By: David http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/01/03/the-oxley-woods-prefab-housing-development-in-london/#comment-20797 David Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:54:18 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/01/03/the-oxley-woods-prefab-housing-development-in-london/#comment-20797 Thanks for letting us know Paul, appreciate that! Thanks for letting us know Paul, appreciate that!

]]> By: Paul http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/01/03/the-oxley-woods-prefab-housing-development-in-london/#comment-20795 Paul Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:11:03 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/01/03/the-oxley-woods-prefab-housing-development-in-london/#comment-20795 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. 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.

]]> By: Greg http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/01/03/the-oxley-woods-prefab-housing-development-in-london/#comment-19509 Greg Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:14:39 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/01/03/the-oxley-woods-prefab-housing-development-in-london/#comment-19509 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. 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.

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