Energy Saving Homes during Oxford Open Doors 2025
13 - 14 Sep 2025
Saturday 13th: Not Open
Sunday 14th: 12:30pm-5pm
Just turn up
Bedford Street is a modestly extended, deeply retrofitted Edwardian mid-terrace in East Oxford. The vision from the outset was to create an exemplar property to demonstrate how to reduce the energy consumption of this very common house type in the UK by up to 80% and create a net zero home in operation. A key part of the brief was to ensure that the external appearance from the street was preserved, and to avoid making the property look out of place against the neighbouring properties and streetscape. Insulating internally on the front elevation allowed this to happen, while replacing the original sash windows with slimline timber double glazed units. As a result, the front elevation has barely changed with the exception of the air source heat pump, serving as a reminder that this is a no ordinary Edwardian terrace, but an ultra-low energy home.
Note that Simon Chung, a specialist in Ecological and Energy Efficient Building Design and the Director of Sow Space will be in attendance for a few hours on Sunday.
Existing and Proposed Ground Floor (JPG, 459kB)
Existing and Proposed First Floor (JPG, 401kB)
Existing and Proposed Roof Plan (JPG, 332kB)