From Reykjavík to Jersey, we design and build the best bespoke homes worldwide
Campaign For Rural England Award
Advanced Foundation Systems are recognised innovators in construction.
The last 12 years have seen a series of exceptional, award winning new builds for self builders, architects’ own homes, and clients from Iceland and Norway to the Channel Islands.
Cliff top builds in Jersey (on Channel 4's Flat Pack Mansions), ‘Homes by the Sea’ (won the JeCC Sustainability Award); and a home erected in 2 days (on the BBC's DIY SOS: The Big Build) are some highlights for us.
- The Passivhaus Institute, Darmstadt
"The most comprehensive system"
In 2021, we launched our most significant innovation to date:
THEPASSIVHAUS
Our passivhaus certified Total Envelope System, described by the Passivhaus Institute at Darmstadt system as ‘the most comprehensive system’ they've ever assessed, and shortlisted for 'Best Sustainable Technology or Product' in the 2021 Build It Awards.
This offsite, MMC system is the most integrated and complete system for self builders & commercial developments alike, offering a fully customizable, complete envelope including substructure, superstructure, and basement. The system can be delivered with joinery, pre installed electrical systems, ready to skim plaster internally and clad externally in masonry, timber, stone, or render - with minimal site time required.
Uniquely, we also offer our Passivhaus Certified Details for download in SketchUp, DWG, PDF and BIM formats, usable for free by architects and engineers.
Aesthetics informed by physics for deeply sustainable buildings
While the built environment currently accounts for almost half global carbon emissions, we don’t think you should worry about it. That burden rightly belongs with the larger developers who can make a difference.
External wall/slab junction isothermal analysis from our Total Envelope System, Passivhaus component certified, showing no heat loss at this typically demanding junction.
Unfashionably, we are more interested in the beauty of the environment and think that physics should inform design, not the other way around. So, we provide you with world leading, proven physics models and the knowledge of how to practically build them (optionally, within our MMC systems in timber or ICF). But you decide how much ‘sustainability’ to build in.
Do not doubt our commitment to sustainability: we have built houses 90% out of recycled materials. And we have our own English woods where you can select your own timber for us to mill.
Uniquely, for specific customers we have incorporated into our systems sheep wool, hempcrete, wood fibre and other deeply sustainable materials. Our standard use of Fermacell (gypsum/50% recycled newsprint; Fermacell is more water, fire and sound- proof than plasterboard) and Panelvent (a breathing pure timber racking board) is significant.
But it should be your choice. The author lives in a 200 year old stone cottage in South Devon and will never insulate the walls. Because they look nice.
The Architects' choice
It is telling that a number of architects have chosen us as partners when building their own homes.
For example, the brilliant young architect Rob Boltman of Downs Merrifield Architects, using our THEPASSIVHAUS substructure and superstructure to create his RIBA Awards Shortlisted masterpiece.
Watch the construction timelapse below.
Bricknell & Fowler Group
Advanced Housing Systems
Superstructure
Design, engineering, fabrication and installation of MMC Passivhaus certified superstructures
www.advancedhousingsystems.co.uk
Advanced Foundation Systems
Foundation, basement, and ICF systems
Design, engineering, fabrication and installation of MMC Passivhaus certified insulated foundations, basements, ICF systems
www.advancedfoundationsystems.co.uk
Bricknell & Fowler
Design & Build
BUILDING A NEW HOME IN JERSEY: the art and process refined