Simmonds Mills : architect.Builders
Ecological Design: Sustainable Construction
Our built environment has a pivotal role with respect to the current Ecological Crisis. The industrialised nations must aim to achieve Sustainable Construction Industries within the next generation to help mitigate global warming, and the associated international economic and social turmoil. Such a change would create conditions favourable for government and business to make more ethical decisions, whether concerning UK foreign policy or local and international trade activities. The Industry must move to producing affordable, adaptable, robust and healthy buildings in order to help us adapt our lives to the remaining inevitable degree of climate change predicted. This is the context which defines Simmonds.Mills' work here in the UK.
PRACTICE PROFILE
Andy Simmonds B.Sc. B.Arch. Dip. Hooke Park
Adele Mills B.A.Hons. Dip.Arch. Reg.ARB
Tim Crosskey B.A Hons. B.Arch. Reg.ARB
Established in 1992 in Buckinghamshire, Simmonds.Mills is now based in two offices in Shropshire and Herefordshire. The practice has specialised in ecological design and build work. Projects have utilised traditional and innovative building techniques, with the emphasis on locally available or renewable materials. All our designs incorporate key principles of energy efficiency and the use of appropriate renewable energy resources. We have particular experience of using UK woodland timber, and are practised in earthen building techniques. We have completed a wide variety of built projects, including: historic conversion and renovation, new housing, and public buildings for various educational charities. The practice has also provided consultancy services for the Centre for Alternative Technology, other architects, developers and a number of environmental organisations.
Through our long-standing membership of the AECB (Association for Environment Conscious Building), we have developed working relationships with leading experts in the field of ecological building technology.
Through being designers and builders, staff have gained hands-on experience of the viability of specific ecological techniques, and have also taken on 'on-the-job' training of other trades people in the application of such techniques.
The company's energy policy is now to work towards achieving the 'Silver', Passivhaus and 'Gold' energy targets outlined in the AECB's CarbonLite Energy Standards. See www.carbonlite.org.uk for details.