Title
Grade II listed Regency/Georgian villa in an acre of gardens, extensively eco-renovated last year.
 
General Description
Grove House was bought by Polly McLean in 2004, in dire need of thorough renovation. This renovation – including a wood pellet boiler system and rainwater harvesting – took place from March 2007 to March 2008.

 
Vital Statistics
Grove House is a detached Grade II listed Georgian/Regency villa set in an acre of garden. The main house was built sometime between 1780 and 1832.  The previous owner was Vivien Greene, widow of author Graham Greene, who lived in the house from 1948 until her death in 2003. In 1962 Mrs Greene had a large Rotunda built as a museum for her extensive collection of dolls’ houses.
The renovation has split the house into a 5 bedroom main house, and a self-contained 2 bedroom cottage for rental. Budgetary constraints have meant that the rotunda remains un-renovated at this stage and is used occasionally for events and parties.

 
About me and why I did it
I fell in love with the romance of the property, its history and its extraordinary position within cycling distance of Oxford city centre yet with extensive gardens. As well as living here, I use the house informally for interesting social change and artistic events, and community celebrations. See www.grovehouse.info for more details. I am keen to share my experiences of ecovating an old timber and brick building, in order to encourage as many other owners of old and listed properties as possible to undertake their own ecovations.

 
Heating and Power

I decided to install a wood pellet fired boiler system. This provides under-floor heating (in the kitchen areas, where new floors were installed), radiator heat and year-round hot water. Once production and delivery of pellets (from Ireland initially, though this is a growing technology so we hope to be able to source them more locally in due course) is taken into account, this system is 93% carbon neutral. The capital outlay is however considerable – this system cost almost £20,000, though £1,500 was recouped through an Energy Savings Trust grant. Cooking is done on electro-magnetic induction hobs, which use half the electricity of traditional electric cookers, yet are as responsive as gas. Low energy lighting solutions were mainly chosen, but in some places I compromised for the sake of cost and/or aesthetics. Electricity is bought from Good Energy, the only UK supplier to guarantee electricity from 100% renewable sources.


Insulation
Insulating the walls of the main front part of the house could only be done between the studs of the timber frame, a space of 80mm. One of the most efficient, close-cell urethane insulants (Kingspan) was therefore used. This depth could not be increased because it would have changed the visual impact of the cill and window reveals externally, which would have been at odds with the listing. Internally any useful lining of the internal walls would have meant a clash with the listed ceiling and cornices. Where internal walls did not have cornices - where the external walls were of both single and 215mm brickwork - the internal walls were insulated and dry-lined with insulated plasterboard. The overall build-up is 75mm.
All the roof spaces have been insulated. Where the ceiling follows the line of the rafter there is Kinsgspan between the rafters, as well as a product called Thinsulex. The battens have been fixed to the underside of the rafters to create an air gap in accordance with the recommendations for fixing Thinsulex. Elsewhere in the roof spaces Rockwool mineral wool has been laid between and above the ceiling joists to achieve a depth of 300mm.
All the floors new and existing have been insulated. Between the ground floor joists of the main house and the basement there is 200mm of mineral wool insulation. Beneath the under-floor heating in the ground floor kitchen and utility rooms of the main house, and the kitchen/living area of the cottage, there is also insulation which is part of the under-floor heating installation.
Where the listing permitted, in the cottage part of the property, double glazed windows and doors have replaced the existing single glazed. However the listing prohibited double glazing in the timber framed main house so we have applied draught excluding brushes and plan to put in secondary glazing as soon as budget allows.
There are heat recovery units in the main house and cottage, which are supposed to provide ventilation while allowing up to 70% of the otherwise discharged heat to be reclaimed from kitchen and bathroom areas. Unfortunately these were wrongly specified by the M&E consultant so have been prohibitively noisy, and need to be refitted (in progress).

 
Water and Sewage
A Rainwater Harvesting tank has been installed, to flush toilets and for the outside tap.

 
Kitchen waste (approx 1/3 of average household waste) will be composted and used for the garden.

 
One of the house’s advantages on an ecological level is that it is on a bus route into Oxford, and the city centre can easily be accessed by bike and even on foot. Bicycle storage facilities will be installed and non-car transportation encouraged.

 
Advice, information and carrying out of works
Berman Guedes Stretton architects were given a brief to renovate the house in accordance with its listing and delightful character, while reducing its carbon emissions as far as possible. They brought on TDP consulting to help design the heating, electrics and water. Inside Out building contractors won the tender to carry out the works, and have managed all subcontractors.
For photos of the renovation please go to www.grovehouse.info