Sunnybank - Home of the Year

Sunnybank is a residential dwelling sited on a hillside and has been designed to make the most of the sunshine along with capturing the magnificent views.

Built to low energy Passive House standards, the property has minimal environmental impact, entirely relying on passive cooling and heating measures, along with photovoltaic-thermal micro-generation and mechnical ventilation heat recovery (MVHR) to meet the total annual electrical and thermal demand. The main lower ground floor open plan living space, comprising kitchen, dining and living rooms have single aspect South facing views across the countryside created from large glazed windows and sliding doors.

Caribbean were contacted by architects Venner Lucas to provide an effective solar control measure to this glazing that would prevent summer overheating whilst still admitting free solar gain for winter heating, along with maximising natural daylight and maintaining the sensational views. The solution, whilst being re-trofitted had to have minimal visual impact and work with the clean, straight lines of the property.

Our Dominica wire guided roller blind system was opted for finished in a co-ordinating grey hardware colour to the window frames so it blended with the facade whilst the slim side wires are virtually invisible to the eye. The blinds featured a mesh screen fabric with an 8% openess factor providing the right balance between solar gain control and light level transmission. A slim headbox neatly conceals the blind fabric when retracted.

A clever discreet sensor, mounted internally to the window monitors the internal temperatures and light levels, automatically lowering the blinds when the pre-set threshold has been met to eliminate overheating and retracting them to admit free solar gain when interior temperatures are below the threshold. A wirefree transmitter allows manual operation of the blinds either individually or as a group.

The property which was designed using the PassivHaus Planning Package (PHPP) to achieve an optimum balance between thermal insulation and solar gain, was awarded the prestigious Grand Designs Home of the Year 2011 award after being short listed from numerous entires. Grand Designs editor Bernie Herlihy described the property as "An eco home that looks fantastic".