ECD Architects recruiting for new English office

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The practice was a founding member of the Passivhaus Trust and has several passive house projects across the UK. Practice managing director James Traynor is the author of ‘Enerphit: a step-by-step guide to low energy retrofit’, published by RIBA.

ECD recently submitted a planning application for the refurbishment of James Riley Point, a 23-storey 1960s tower on the Carpenters Estate adjacent to the Olympic Park in London. The tower is being refurbished to the Enerphit standard and incorporates a community centre at ground floor. It is the first phase of a wider masterplan recently approved overwhelmingly by residents.

The project is estimated to save approximately 7.2 tonnes of embodied carbon (CO2e) compared to demolition and rebuild. Operational carbon emissions will be approximately 90 per cent lower than existing, and fuel poverty will be eradicated. The scheme will have zero onsite fossil fuel consumption, utilising exhaust air heat pumps to provide space heating and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery to all dwellings. Roof areas will be optimised to provide PV panels and to improve and retain existing biodiversity and habitat.

This project builds on the learnings from another ECD project at Wilmcote House, Portsmouth (completed in 2018), which was the UK case study for the Europhit programme (step by step approach to Enerphit) and is featured in the LETI Climate Emergency Retrofit Guide. James Traynor was also recently interviewed about Wilmcote House and the Enerphit standard in the Zero Ambitions podcast.