At the launch of Constructing Excellence Wales’ Exemplar Programme, bere:architects received a pilot Exemplar Programme award for designing the Larch and Lime House at Ebbw Vale. We were really pleased to have the houses recognized by this excellent initiative that puts emphasis on ‘soft landings’ and post occupancy evaluation as proof of a building’s exemplary status - an ‘Exemplar’ is defined as ‘something worthy of being imitated or copied’ and showing a way of achieving excellent carbon reductions in low cost housing is exactly what we were seeking to achieve with our code 6, certified Pasivhaus, social housing scheme.
CEW’s exemplar projects are intended to be good practical examples of how to achieve Best Value Sustainable Construction solutions and chosen projects will be able to provide the construction industry with ‘hands on’ information and data not only with what has been achieved, but also and more importantly how this was done starting from option appraisal stage all the way through to post occupancy so that this learning can be adopted on other projects. All aspects of sustainability and construction best practice will be taken into consideration, including economic, social and environmental factors, to ensure that the Exemplars on the programme deliver a good all-round project that does not sacrifice one aspect for the sake of another. Case studies will be produced at key stages of the chosen Exemplar projects which will be published and disseminated through events and other sources.
The launch of the Exemplar programme on 9th March began with a presentation by Jane Davidson, the Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing who also made a presentation to the Pilot Projects and this was followed by a brief explanation of the process using the Pilot Projects as practical examples.