The bones of the Green Deal are this: Government will lend you cash from our shiny new Green Bank to install insulation or other efficiency measures. The loan will be paid back through your energy bill, which will always be equal to or lower than the amount you would have been paying anyway.

Unfortunately, the schemes could be financially disastrous for those who sign up, and are inadequate in their methods to ensure good work is done that will cut emissions.

So what’s the problem?

As is often the case, this appears to be good intentions, mangled by bureaucrats who forgot that people should not be expected to make bad decisions, but they almost certainly will if you make them on their behalf.

One example: the loan will be subject to 7% APR. That’s right, at a time when the Bank of England has interest stuck firmly at 0.5%, and most people could remortgage their property at around 4%, The Green Bank (that’s OUR bank) figured 7% is reasonable. Worse still, the Green Bank has the right to increase the rate by 2% every three years. Over twenty five years, that could happen 8 times, leaving you with an APR of 23%.

Add to this a “lifestyle buffer” added into the repayment amount, an arbitrary sum to allow for changes in energy consumption, i.e. children, plus the fact that cost of the installation itself was mysteriously absent from the sums, plus the rising costs of fuel, (neatly ensuring that “what you would have paid” could be astronomical) and you may as well write a blank cheque to the Green Bank, payable for the next 25 years.

There are many other serious flaws, for example:  There is no proper oversight of the installations – they have to be Quality Assured, which is another way of entrusting to pot luck that you will get a conscientious installer who doesn’t simply tell you he or she has filled your cavity/loft with insulation, collect the cheque and leave. Without a proper chain of inspection and liability, a lot of installation will be substandard, will have very little effect on energy consumption or emissions, but will cost a lot of money.

An example of the sort of erroneous work that will be paid for by the Green Deal is shown in the figure below: External wall insulation (or cavity insulation) will not be linked and continuous with soffit or roof insulation. Instead, a thermal bridge  (cold spot) is created at soffit level – a schoolboy error masquerading as an approved installation detail. The illustration happens to come from an Irish grant scheme, but I know of at least one instance where it has happened in the UK.

A detail taken from Young Design Build's website. Stephen Young told me this is an approved detail for a grant scheme in Ireland, similar to the Green Deal, yet, as any fule kno, this leaves a thermal bridge which will result in condensation and mould within the structure. Yuk. Expect to see plenty of this if the Green Deal gets going, because your average installer may well neither know or care about this sort of detail.

I could go on and on.. but I won’t. The bottom line is: If you want to make your home more efficient, and we all should, borrow the cash at sensible fixed rate and employ an architect to either design and tender the works for you, or recommend or work with a known good insulation/renewables installer or consultant.  They do exist, (In Ireland try Young Design Build) but you need to know them and their work before letting them loose on your home – or appoint a professional who can ensure a proper liability.

The expertise to get this done properly is sitting under the Government’s nose: RIBA, RICS, Passivhaus  have thousands of competent members ready to take on a national project like this – highly qualified, committed people who would be happy to do extra training if required, but crucially, bring considerable knowledge to bear, already.  Link that expertise to a national borrowing scheme fixed at, say 4%, and there was great deal ready to happen. A thousand small businesses could have benefitted, and we could have made proper reductions in emissions.

My message to Government is: Stop reinventing the wheel. Stop being in thrall to financiers and their products. Stop devising massive, over complex, risk-averse schemes. The methods, calculations, details and contracts all exist already. Stop rejecting The Professions, pick up the phone, get some people over and we can sort this out. You are playing a game, the rules of which you do not know, that will result in ordinary people, who are trying to do the right thing, being fleeced while climate change continues unabated.

Our client is an arts centre, constrained by their existing capacity, with a strong desire to increase their accessibility and presence in the city centre. The media centre is part of the arts centre: a teaching hub that provides professional facilities for local digital artists, animators and filmmakers.

The latest phase of the project is focused on re-building the media centre. The effect of the building on its area is profound, and we consider that any changes that are made should be done so with full regard to context and potential in that part of Exeter City and beyond.

Designed over 4 storeys, advantage is made of the sloping site to build a wine cellar below a new ground floor with split level Kitchen and dining area.

The first and second floors jut out over the garden, as may be seen in the 3D image, and the heavy mass of their brickwork appears to float above the glazed ground floor.

The design was developed in close consultation with the clients, using drawings, models and 3d model movies. Analysis of the shading effects was carried out to answer questions that were raised at the planning stage, and permission was granted without a committee meeting being necessary.

Work on site has started and walls and structure are rising from the ground. I will post progress pictures and you can check my blog for more detail!

The open plan, split level kitchen and dining rooms take shape in September 2011.

The extension as of March 2012- crisp detail and brickwork disguise the scale - it is big.

The Wine cellar during construction. The formwork is a specialist type to create a fair-face concrete finish inside.

An orthogonal drawing of a stair - dimensioned for construction

3D visuals of a stair - note the risers are replaced by bicycle spokes - open risers would not be permissible, but this design allows light to penetrate and would create intricate shading effects

In the event, this particular stair will not be commissioned for this job, but the staircase is a complete entity, and the ideas that are developed in its design will live another day.

Meanwhile, internal spaces are taking shape beautifully, including the stair well itself:

The stairwell connecting first floor to top storey. The new rooflight throws natural light down in the centre of the house very effectively.

The top storey has plaster and paint on the walls, and the new office is turning out so well, it is at risk of being co-opted in to a bedroom.

This will be a wonderful office - or perhaps a bedroom??

The kitchen / dining / lounge area, divided by level changes, curved walls and other devices is tantalising: enclosure and construction is nearly complete, and we just want to see those finishes!

Structural columns, sunken lounge, curved walls, huge glazed areas, this house has it all!

External detailing is crisp and considered - check the sloping brick cill - hand cut on site. Velfac windows are beautifully simple, as are the thin overhanging eaves.

And so we soldier on. Sometimes it feels like it is taking forever, ( it’s not) but like all good things, it will be well worth waiting for..