Buckingham Road Residential Development

The Buckingham Road site has a rich history dating back to the Victorian era. This project looks to convert part of the site back to its original purpose of four dwelling town-houses, retaining the existing listed Victorian frontages, and then replace the remaining area with a new residential building consisting of 20 apartments (one-, two-, and three-bed) plus a ground floor community facility and basement car parking.

Elementa Consulting was appointed to undertake the mechanical and electrical consulting, including all sustainability aspects, and have worked with the client who, understanding the local Brighton market, provided a brief for very environmentally sustainable development.

The building will be naturally ventilated and passively cooled for up to 80% of the year using exposed thermal mass within the apartments to maintain comfortable summer conditions with cooling provided to the main bedroom and living spaces only for market expectations. The apartments are super insulated, incorporate intelligent thermostat technology, and explore efficient appliances to ensure the most efficient space is created. In wintertime, each dwelling maintains drought-free conditions through mechanical ventilation heat recovery units.

The Victorian townhouses are also extensively thermally upgraded, with the rear façade externally insulated and the front façade internally insulated (due to its listed nature). The rear façade roofs incorporate building integrated photovoltaic tiles generating sufficient annual electricity for all communal areas and electric car charging with a visual appearance to mimic slate tiles to maintain the area’s character.

The development is heated communally via a concealed air source heat pump system producing highly carbon-efficient energy to all dwellings serving radiator heating, underfloor heating, and preheating domestic hot water systems.