One of the multi-category winners at the Structural Timber Awards 2025, and the project hailed as the ‘winner of winners’ was a stylish, timber frame and hugely energy efficient, net zero contemporary home in Salford.
Copper Beech Passivhaus Plus is a three-storey, net zero energy home and the Northwest’s first Passivhaus Plus certified building. Not only judged the ‘winner of winners’ the scheme won the Low Energy Building of the Year and Timber Frame Building of the Year categories. Built using a prefabricated twin stud timber frame, it creates a high performance, thermally continuous envelope, necessary for the delivery of a low impact building.
Designed by architects Progress in Practice and delivered in collaboration with Bailey Projects (both Manchester-based), the use of timber and recycled newspaper insulation, timber cladding and timber windows, saw the building’s embodied carbon exceptionally low at just 261 kgCO2e/m2. Using these natural materials reported a space heating demand of just 13kWh/m2.a. The project surpasses the RIBA 2030 Embodied Carbon target when sequestered carbon is considered and crucially most of these materials can be disassembled and reused to complete a circularity approach.
Situated in Salford, Copper Beech Passivhaus Plus blends traditional materials with sharp modern detailing to create a contemporary home full of character. Designed with future adaptability in mind, the house accommodates evolving needs, with options for wheelchair or lift access. An integrated landscaping strategy sees the introduction of a kitchen garden, pond, orchard and woodland garden, all designed to support biodiversity, wildlife and native species. The home nestles into an established red brick setting and responds sensitively to neighbouring homes through traditional red bricks on the front facade, with contemporary herringbone detailing and rosemary clay tiles.
The rear elevation of the low carbon, timber frame home uses a contrasting approach, with dramatic charred timber cladding. Living spaces open out onto the courtyard and views of the garden and mature trees have been framed throughout the house to enhance connections with nature. Bluebells in the garden have been retained, with native species, hedgerows and bird boxes encouraging biodiversity and insect life. The building features recycled newspaper insulation, an insulated raft foundation, triple glazing and mechanical ventilation for great air quality, health and comfort.
Copper Beech Passivhaus clients commented: “The benefits of Passivhaus in terms of comfort and economy are simply gobsmacking. I felt the need to write to Octopus after several minus £2 bills to explain that these were not fraudulent but the result of superbly designed and constructed insulation. The constantly stable internal environment is just a joy to live in – a near miracle compared to the freezing, drafty winters and sweaty summers in our previous conventional build.”
Performance matches the beauty. A tiny 5kW air source heat pump, 40 solar panels, careful orientation, high quality construction and duvet like layers of insulation mean the home surpassed stringent energy and air tightness requirements for Passivhaus certification and is now feeding excess energy back into the grid. This also delivers extremely stable temperatures and improved comfort.
“We were so happy and surprised to receive the award for Low Energy Building of the Year at the ST Awards 2025,” said Hannah Dixon, Founder and Director at Progress in Practice. “Our mission is to help spread Passivhaus, low energy design and low carbon construction as far as possible, so to be recognised in this category genuinely means a lot to us. The subsequent two awards of Timber Frame Building of the Year and ‘Winner of Winners’ really floored us. It felt as though the value of low energy design was being shown to extend beyond just a niche or ‘special interest’, demonstrating that it is important for us all.”
