Tarmac Houses are two semidetached properties. The concept was to provide practical answers to some of the questions which surround the Code for Sustainable Homes (CfSH). Another important factor was to make the homes visually appealing to the majority of potential home owners and create a build a home that is both affordable and easy to maintain.

The homes have been designed by architect Bill Dunster’s Zed factory Ltd. One property has been built to level 4 CfSH and the other to level 6 CfSH. They are both 3 bedroomed, 5 person properties. The homes aim to demonstrate that the highest levels of the Code for Sustainable Homes are achievable now by using existing traditional and readily available masonry products and techniques.

The traditional masonry materials used throughout the build have a number of benefits over other modern methods of construction which include:

• their high thermal mass helps counteract summer overheating
• traditional risk free build techniques and skills can be utilised
• they are fire resistant
• they offer a high level of security
• they can use locally sourced materials
• history shows they have a long in-service life

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