Camden proves Councils Can: Agar Grove rollout

Take a look at the UK's largest Passivhaus housing development to date. Camden Council exemplar Passivhaus estate regeneration is rolling out in phases, building on the learning from its award-winning Phase 1A.

Replacing existing 1960s H-shaped housing blocks, 345 affordable Passivhaus homes are being built for new and existing tenants in the London Borough of Camden. Delivered over a total of 6 phases, each iteration is offering scope for learning and improvement for the delivery teams. The phasing for the programme has been based around a 'single decant' process to allow residents to stay on site and move straight into their homes once complete.

The plans for the estate have been designed by Hawkins\Brown architects, Mae architects, and Grant Associates landscape architects, working with Hill as main contractor. PHT Patron WARM has been Passivhaus certifier on all phases of the project. PHT Patron Architype was delivery architect and delivery Passivhaus consultant for phases 1A and 1B. PHT Patron Max Fordham has been Passivhaus consultant to tender and M&E Consultant on all the buildings, and is delivery Passivhaus consultant on phase 1C.

Agar Grove is one of Camden Council’s Community Investment Programme’s flagship schemes. The regeneration of this estate is helping us to build hundreds of new environmentally sustainable homes which will benefit both current and future residents.

Michelle Christensen, Camden Council

Phases

Phase 1A

Project stage: Completed, April 2018
No. of homes: 38
Key team: Hawkins Brown (Lead Design Architect), Architype (Passivhaus Designer & Delivery Architect), Max Fordham LLP, (M&E Designer & Client-side Passivhaus designer), Hill Partnerships Limited (Contractor), WARM (Certifier).

Phase 1B

Project stage: Completed, Summer 2022
No. of homes: 57
Key team: Hawkins Brown (Lead Design Architect), Architype (Passivhaus Designer & Delivery Architect), Max Fordham LLP, (M&E Designer & Client-side Passivhaus designer), Hill Partnerships Limited (Contractor), WARM (Certifier).

Agar Grove redevelopment overview. Image credit: Forbes Massie

Phase 1C

Project stage: On site
No. of homes: 125
Key team: Hawkins Brown (Lead Design Architect), Max Fordham (M&E Designer & Passivhaus designer), Hill Partnerships Limited (Contractor), WARM (Certifier)

Phase 2A

Project stage: In design
No. of homes: 94
Key team: TBA

$Agar Grove Masterplan phases © Hawkins\Brown$

Services

A different approach to services and heating systems has been developed to respond to both post occupancy evaluation (POE) from earlier phases and to the wider decarbonation of the UK's electricity supply. Phase 1A saw an innovative communal MVHR system, while Phase 1B saw individual MVHR units for each apartment. Phase 1C is currently under construction and will be all-electric, using an innovative ambient loop heat pump system.

Agar Grove Phase 1C. Image credit: QODA Consulting

Agar Grove Estate's award-winning success - including a Passivhaus Trust Award, NLA Environmental Prize and CIBSE Building Performance Award - is testament to the efforts of the design team and Camden Council; all of whom have shown great commitment and ambition to deliver the first two phases of this trailblazing redevelopment. We're particularly proud of the CIBSE Building Performance Award as this celebrates the fact that the buildings really work!

Scott Crease, Senior Partner at Max Fordham

Masterclass

The Agar Grove project kicks off the first of the Large & Complex Masterclass lecture series on Wednesday 7 September 2022. Topics covered in this 120-minute session include:

Introduction and overview of the project phases.
Post-occupancy evaluation
Lessons learned from phases 1 A-B
Iterations made by the design team for subsequent phases, including changes to services
Value engineering and affordability