Hockerton Housing Project

The Hockerton Housing Project is a small community of five earth sheltered homes on the outskirts of Hockerton, Nottinghamshire, UK.

The houses were designed by ‘green’ architects Professor Brenda Vale and Dr Robert Vale. Low carbon living is facilitated through the use of renewable energy, the water system, food grown on site, and the community's approach to work and transport.

The homes were completed in September 1998 after three years of planning and 18 months of construction, at a cost of about £65,000. Two homes have since changed ownership on the open property market.

The development consists of a terrace of five single story dwellings which are earth-sheltered at the rear (North), so that the ground surface slopes and blends smoothly into the field at the back. The houses have passive solar heating (a combination of high thermal mass and the south-facing conservatory) removing the need for a space heating system and the greatest factor in lowering energy use.

Each house is 6 metres deep with a 19 metre conservatory to the south. This runs the full width of each dwelling. A repeated modular bay system of 3.2m in width was used for ease and cost of construction. Most of the internal rooms have 3 metre high French windows linking them to the conservatory. Those rooms that are not so dependent on natural light, such as utility and bathing areas are located towards the rear of the homes.

The surrounding 40,000 square metre site allows for crop cultivation, the rearing of sheep and chickens, and self-sufficiency in water and energy.

Two wind turbines and a solar photovoltaic system provide most of the energy required to run the homes. All systems are grid linked, which allows for both import of energy during periods of supply shortfall, and export for periods of excess energy production. The excess exported offsets the imported energy from the grid.

• 6 kW proven wind turbine installed early 2002 year (upgraded in 2008)
• 7.65 kW peak array of photovoltaics (solar electric) installed August 2002 complimenting wind power.
• 5 kW Iskra wind turbine installed in 2005 – installed as part of construction of a community building

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