NDA Labs

Low energy buildings

As a member of the UK Green Building Council the optimisation of the building’s performance is the starting point for any project. We are Passive House certified and are experts in the combination of airtight construction and renewable technology to minimise the energy load of the building. It is important to define what we believe low energy building design to be, as it can mean different things to different people.

Low energy building design should be defined as follows:

  • Low embodied carbon content i.e. the total amount of carbon expended when building it
  • Low operational carbon content
  • The building’s ability to generate energy from renewable resources
  • Minimising waste in the construction of the building
  • Maximising the efficiency of the adaptability of the building
  • Recyclability of the building elements either via recycling or upcycling
  • The building to have as light an environmental footprint on its site and surrounding context as possible

Renewable technology

Airtightness and a well-insulated fabric is not sufficient on its own to provide an optimum solution for energy performance. When the fabric is combined with the best renewable technology available, the surplus energy created is substantial and constant.

Nilan boiler

We specified, develop and optimise heating and cooling technology, a two phase MVHR with heat pump,  that works off a reduced energy load as the buildings are airtight. These systems are applicable for all building types combining hot water, medically grade filtered air, heating and cooling with heat recovery.

Energy storage systems

The surplus energy can be harvested in the latest cell technology that we specify in all our projects.

Photo via nilan.uk.com
Getty Images

Future proofing

As technology develops and new offerings are available on the market it is vital that buildings are adaptable to accommodate the new technology. We build in the ability
to add the technology in to future proof the project, avoiding the need to rip the fabric apart then make good again.

The role technology can play

We believe that smart technology can improve all our lives for the better, allowing us to get back to the elements of life that are important: light; air; water (revisit this). We do not believe that our lives should be dominated by tech, so we aim to make it invisible. This can only be achieved by understanding and mastering the medium to hide it away.

Where we are going

Following a global crisis, there is always a huge surge in innovation and production. We are capitalising on this era to take advantage of the new inventions in the market. Where they do not exist, we develop and bring them to market

Photo via Sunflaresolar.com
Photo via recoupwwhrs.co.uk