8NEWSWWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK ADF NOVEMBER 2019
With flood risk being the primary danger to
waterfront homes across the UK, Baca
Architects has won the go-ahead for two
new houses on Christchurch waterfront in
a decision that not only “reflects the firm’s
exemplary approach to flood resilient
design,” said the firm, “but also overcomes
an inherent flaw in national planning policy
on building within floodplains.”
The houses feature “the latest in
sustainable architecture,” said the firm.
Manufactured offsite, these highly insulated
homes are designed to have low carbon
footprints and quick assembly.
The interiors, said the firm, will be
“bathed in sunlight” and generous
balconies will provide shade to full-height
glazed windows that afford panoramic
views out over the estuary. All bedrooms
are located above ground level while the
living room, kitchen and dining room are
approximately 2.5 feet above the external
ground level and outside the flood plain.
All electrical services will be brought in
from the first floor and all electrical sockets
will be raised. Windows and doors will
allow water control and safe egress at
multiple locations around the building. In
the event of a flood, and should water enterthe ground floor, the internal construction
is designed to be resilient to water and to
enable effective cleaning and fast recovery.
BACA said the scheme – the first of its
kind under the recent changes to National
Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) –
“challenged the effective prohibition on
homeowners, developers and local
authorities to re-build innovatively and
safely on sites where pre-existing housing
stock had already suffered, or was likely to
suffer, flooding.”
The site is currently designated an
area of low flooding risk but is calculated
to progress to one of high risk over the
next 100 years, and the client wished to
replace two dilapidated bungalows with
two flood-resilient homes.
While the proposal offered significant
improvements in terms of safety onsite,
improved onsite drainage and no net
increase of development in the flood plain,
the project ran into a major obstacle due to
changes to the NPPF in 2018, explained the
architects. “These aimed to put an end to
new waterfront housing developments but
in doing so also posed a direct problem for
owners of existing waterfront or flood plain
homes seeking to protect their properties.”Assael Architecture has become the
first practice in the UK to sign up to
the UN Climate Neutral Now
initiative, binding the studio to
measure, reduce and offset greenhouse
gas emissions going forward.
As a signatory of the UN-backed
initiative, Assael Architecture must
calculate and disclose the practice’s
current carbon footprint, including
international air travel, and show a
“clear pathway” to reducing it year
on year. The practice has set a target
to be operationally carbon neutral
from late 2019.
The current carbon emissions of the
practice are then offset financially
using UN certified emission reductions
(CERs), where Assael Architecture can
choose specific projects to support.
The project that Assael has pledged to
support through the CERs programme
is the creation of a hydroelectric
power station in Chile, South America.
The UN-certified CERs are carbon
credits generated by climate-friendly
projects vetted by the UN following
rules approved at intergovernmental
level and with international oversight,
providing a high level of credibility to
the offsetting regime.
To help bolster the practice’s fight
against climate change domestically,
Assael has been rolling out a range of
initiatives internally to help curb their
emissions. These include achieving and
maintaining the IS
certification, supporting staff cycling
schemes, encouraging international
video conferencing over international
flights and extending the audience of
their annual Green Week, where
industry leaders gather at the Assael
offices to discuss sustainability.Assael becomes
first architectural
practice to join
UN’s Climate
Neutral Now
initiative
CLIMATE CHANGEBaca Architects achieves
planning consent for
Christchurch resi project
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