A thatched Eco-Cottage with whitewashed

stone walls and timber products

sourced from sustainable forestry -

set in a rural woodland site where the

trees were protected and retained.

Could this be your ideal home? Let me know.

Hello and welcome to my eco / green architectural design site - dedicated to you if you are interested in building a green home or renovating and extending your current home in an environmentally friendly way. Low carbon and even zero carbon houses are feasible now, by adopting a passive house (or passiv haus) design approach.

If you are new to building or have done it all before and want to try a new green approach or just need some help or advice, there's something for you at landmarkdesigns.org.uk

In addition to award-winning eco homes, we also design environmentally friendly commercial & industrial buildings. We are based in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland and the travel distance to your site is not a problem, in fact we can design buildings for wherever you are on the planet.

The website provides free information and will keep you up-to-date through my green building blogs. Be sure to check for your free factsheets when they become available so that we can keep you informed in this fast-changing world of eco-building. Thanks for visiting - be sure to have a look at my blog page and leave a comment if you wish.

Regards,

Les O'Donnell.

Green Design

It's important to realise how important 'eco-design' really is:

Wind Turbines are an excellent

choice for renewable energy - but get

your site surveyed first to see if the costs balance out.

Healthy Building

Your eco-home should be made as healthy as possible by using people-friendly materials and construction methods. Many modern materials which contribute to improving the performance of an environmentally friendly building can unfortunately also be regarded as posing a risk to your long-term health. Request the related factsheet here.

Here is the best piece of simple advice you will get anywhere:

There is no single way to achieve high levels of energy efficiency, but:  

• Preventing heat & air losses should always come before considering alternative energy sources.
• Be very wary of the 'bolt-it-on' approach.
• Professional advice at the start will save time and money
• Remember that producing CO2 costs you money!

"Good advice will specify exactly what work is needed and what it will cost; and should not follow trends blindly or encourage you to buy new technology without first balancing the environmental benefits with life-cycle costs ."

This Old Barn has the potential to be

converted into a characterful home.

A structural report should be your

first step before getting into the

minutiae of the detailed design stage.