Visit to Hockerton Housing Project

View from roof over photovoltaic cells and conservatory
roofs, towards the lake. Photo: Chris Morton

Two Beacon Project Charlbury members attended an introductory day at Hockerton Housing Project on Saturday 28 January 2012 to learn more about this important environmental project near Newark. 


Although the Hockerton project dates back to 1998 it took a considerable amount of time to develop some of the infrastructure, especially the wind turbines, due to planning delays. The five houses at Hockerton, built together as a terrace, make use of high thermal mass building materials, including concrete and layers of insultation, to keep heat loss from the structure to a minimum. 


Warm air is generated within the southwest–facing conservatories fronting all the properties, which is then drawn into the house, only one room deep but spacious. The house itself is covered with a thick turf roof which slopes down towards the rear of the structure.

Turf roof sloping behind the Hockerton house terrace. Photo: Chris Morton

The houses remain warm throughout the year, with a variation of only four or five degrees between the summer and winter. The addition of a wood burner in the conservatories makes these spaces more usable in the winter months. Along the top of the conservatories runs a line of low maintenance photovoltaic cells, which generates one third of the energy needs of the project.


The remaining two thirds of the site's energy requirements is generated by two wind turbines, located in a field adjacent.

Wind turbines at Hockerton. Photo: Chris Morton

One of the most fascinating aspects of the Hockerton infrastructure is the water capture and treatment system that is used. Rain water that falls over the site is guided towards a lake that was dug in the clay soil in front of the houses. This lake also gives additional reflected light to the houses. From this lake water is pumped to another small lake on another part of the site where a bund was created from displaced earth at the highest point on the site. The intention was that gravity would enable water to be fed down into the houses from this point. Unfortunately the use of narrow pipes within the houses meant that there was insufficient pressure and a pump is needed to do this. This makes the use of the lake on the high bund somewhat redundant, and since it is also quite a distance from the houses it is also more difficult to maintain.

The small lake up on the bund supplies the houses with all their non-potable water needs. The water feeds through from the lake into a 3 foot deep sand filtration tank sunk into the earth, from where it feeds through to a holding tank from where it is drawn down on demand.

Sand filtration tank with insulated lid. Part of the non-potable
water system on the site. Photo: Chris Morton

For drinking water, another pump system draws water from the main lake through a series of filters (including UV treatment) to a separate tap in the sinks.


At one end of the main lake is the sewage treatment reed bed. The waste from the houses is fed through to a sump where it is rotated around a reed bed and naturally broken down. The cleaned water then moves through into the main lake system, where carp are kept.

View across lake to houses, with reed bed system to left. Photo: Chris Morton

The five houses that make up the Hockerton community are thereby self-sufficient in water and energy requirements. In addition to this, they also produce half of all the food they require on site. This is done in a variety of ways, all needing a significant time investment from all community members – set at 300 hours per year – which is agreed upon when they buy houses within the project. This agreement means that additions to the community are self-selecting in terms of who is prepared to undertake work on behalf of the whole community. Vegetables for instance are not grown in individual allotments owned by each household, but in common, with households undertaking gardening work for the entire group. Bees are also kept for honey, and a small herd of sheep to keep grass down and for a small supply of meat.

Conservatories and decking fronting houses. Photo: Chris Morton

There are many lessons that can be learned from the Hockerton Housing Project. The self-sufficiency systems are now tried and tested at Hockerton, and although they require constant maintenance, the benefits are significant, and not just in financial terms. The generation of electricity via small wind turbines works well, but  they only work at 50% efficiency, due to being located in a less than ideal location for wind as a result of planning restrictions. Hockerton village nearby also has a single large wind turbine which was financed with a share sale, and this would be a preferable model for Charlbury. A large turbine sited in a good wind location would benefit the whole community and reduce the need for a smaller turbine on any potential Beacon Project site. From an architectural point of view, the 'greenhouse' principle is shown to work well at Hockerton, with the conservatories serving to generate warmth for the whole house as well as being wonderful, light-filled spaces to live in. We were particularly struck however by the potential for turf covered structures, not only from a thermal point of view, but also in terms of reducing the visual impact of development.