Hawkes Architecture

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Energy

Energy Efficiency

An average 3 bedroom house consumes around 15,000kWh per year. 80% of this energy is consumed for heating and hot water. Electricity only accounts for 20% of a house’s energy use. This is why we spend the majority of our time designing to reduce the need for heat! Design decisions we make to maximise insulation, enhance airtightness and minimise cold bridging, help to reduce a building’s need for heat. These also tend to be decisions that are difficult to change later!


Ensuring that a building’s walls, roof, floor and windows have all been designed to minimise the need for heating will have the greatest impact on reducing running costs.

With the largest slice of a home’s annual energy load minimised, our focus can turn to optimising the efficiency of hot water and electricity consumption. Modern heat stores with smart controls that learn how to optimise energy consumption to reduce consumption and costs are helping to reduce bills and consumption.

Use of efficient appliances and LED lighting have also helped to reduce electricity bills enormously. Battery storage and the adoption of EVs & home charging are revolutionising the way we travel and how we manage our dependance on the National Grid.

Richard has continued to monitor and evolve the energy systems at his own certified Passive House since 2009. Hawkes Architecture’s experience and pedigree in delivering homes of exceptional quality and unparalleled efficiency is unique in the architectural world.

An average 3 bedroom house consumes around 15,000kWh per year. 80% of this energy is consumed for heating and hot water. Electricity only accounts for 20% of a house’s energy use. This is why we spend the majority of our time designing to reduce the need for heat! Design decisions we make to maximise insulation, enhance airtightness and minimise cold bridging, help to reduce a building’s need for heat. These also tend to be decisions that are difficult to change later!


Ensuring that a building’s walls, roof, floor and windows have all been designed to minimise the need for heating will have the greatest impact on reducing running costs.

With the largest slice of a home’s annual energy load minimised, our focus can turn to optimising the efficiency of hot water and electricity consumption. Modern heat stores with smart controls that learn how to optimise energy consumption to reduce consumption and costs are helping to reduce bills and consumption.

Use of efficient appliances and LED lighting have also helped to reduce electricity bills enormously. Battery storage and the adoption of EVs & home charging are revolutionising the way we travel and how we manage our dependance on the National Grid.

Richard has continued to monitor and evolve the energy systems at his own certified Passive House since 2009. Hawkes Architecture’s experience and pedigree in delivering homes of exceptional quality and unparalleled efficiency is unique in the architectural world.

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