A Victorian Home in Hackney Leads the Way in Low-Carbon Renovation

When Dora Taylor and her partner, Danny Hubbard, purchased their Victorian house in Hackney in 2018, they acquired a charming bay-fronted property with an enviable location next to Victoria Park. However, every dream home comes with its imperfections, and for Taylor, a chef, writer, and podcaster, the kitchen proved to be the Achilles’ heel.

Taylor, passionate about sustainable vegan food, needed a space to prepare meals for her catering business. The dingy and cramped kitchen was not conducive to their love of cooking and hosting friends. Recognizing the need for a change, the couple sought to not only reconfigure the space for more functionality but also align any renovations with their commitment to a low-carbon lifestyle.

Their quest for an architect with a similar ethos led them to Cairn Architects through a post on the Nextdoor neighborhood app. Cairn Architects, with offices in east London and Edinburgh, immediately connected with Taylor and Hubbard’s vision for a sustainable home with minimal waste.

Kieran Hawkins, Cairn’s founding director, notes, “Dora’s project was smaller than many that we work on, but her environmental commitment and her openness to new ideas offered wonderful opportunities to explore making a home in ways that are both quite radical and satisfyingly low-tech.”

The renovation involved a small extension to the rear and side return, enhancing the ground-floor bathroom to create a more spacious and light-filled kitchen. Lowering the ground floor at the back of the house increased the ceiling height and sense of space. While the back garden became a light well, a new roof terrace and ample front garden space added valuable outdoor areas.

The sustainability journey took a significant step in the choice of materials. The project became the first in the UK to utilize LC3 limestone, also known as calcined clay cement, for the ground-floor slab and foundations. All windows were replaced with double-glazed versions, significantly improving the house’s thermal performance.

To ensure sustainability, Cairn Architects collaborated with Structure Workshop, utilizing their Carbon Calculator to make accurate calculations about the embodied carbon in each design decision. Steel supports were swapped for sapele hardwood beams, a choice reflecting a commitment to low carbon but presenting a trade-off against the desire for a large, minimalist open space.

The project earned the nickname “the house made by many hands,” a testament to the collaborative effort invested in the renovation. Taylor, Hubbard, architects Hawkins and Riccardo Bela, along with contractor David Sheard, hand-filled each section of the wall, resulting in visible, textural strata that tell the story of the home.

Hempcrete, an eco-friendly material, played a starring role in the renovation, with its earthy and brutalist aesthetic celebrated rather than concealed. The innovative approach not only transformed a Victorian house into a model for low-carbon living but also showcased the possibilities of sustainable design without compromising style and functionality.

In a world where environmental consciousness meets architectural ingenuity, this Hackney home stands as a beacon of inspiration for those seeking to marry tradition with sustainable modern living.