Why did you choose to build your own home in Braemar?
When the time came for my wife and I to move house, we had seen television shows about self-building and thought, why buy someone else’s house when we could build our own? So we decided to build our own home.
What led you to selecting Passivhaus as a construction method?
Again it was when we were watching television shows that we found out about Passivhaus, and when it was time to start planning our build, it made sense to build our new home as energy efficient as possible. As this is our retirement home, we thought we would invest a little bit more to build a Passivhaus that could keep costs down, rather than building with a cheaper system but then spending more on running and maintaining it.
How did you find the building process?
Generally the build process went very well. Any problems that arose were dealt with very quickly and professionally and overall it ran smoothly.
How did you find working with Stewart and Shields (Beattie Passive Flying Factory Partner)?
My relationship with Stewart and Shields was very good, they are incredibly competent and very good at what they do. They got on with my architect and they worked well together. In addition, they were always responsive to my needs throughout the project. I would recommend them to other self-builders.
What do you like best about your new home?
It is very comfortable, and always a nice temperature throughout the house – I am enjoying the warmth during the winter months. In extremely hot weather during the summer, it can get a bit hot but this is easily fixed just by opening a couple of windows.
Have you noticed any of the benefits of Passivhaus whilst you’ve been living in your new home?
Yes definitely. As I said it is always a comfortable temperature throughout the house as it regulates itself. It also feels quite light and airy due to my MVHR constantly providing fresh air throughout the property. I also sometimes get passers-by looking at my house with admiration, which is quite nice!
“It reached -23°C last week (January 2021) and my house cooled down maybe 3° at night, which I could have overcome by putting the heaters on more. To lose at most 3° really shows the performance of a Beattie Passive build.”
Neil Caple
