Sustainable Housing Development: Design Towards Zero Energy for Space Heating

The aim of this paper is to examine users’ perspective on the acceptability of the courtyard house type in the UK through a post occupancy evaluation of Accordia, Cambridge Phase 1 Development (completed in April 2006), the winner of RIBA Stirling Prize 2008. Users’ behaviour and perceptions in term of the performances of this house type as a solution forcreating family house for urban areas in the UK are investigated. Five themes were examined in the study which are the estate, the home, open spaces, privacy and, energy consumption and conservation. The paper focuses on findings from perceptions of four households, each selected from different blocks within the study. The selection of households are based on the first return survey form received from each of the block within the study. The house plans of all four households are different in design with long-narrow courtyard configuration, front to depth ratios of 1:1.5 to 1:4.8. Triangulation in this study is applied: postal questionnaire survey, semi-structured face-to-face interview and overt non-participation observation. A number of key findings are presented as the result of this study.