Weymouth native Sarah Small is an associate and Passivhaus designer at Dorchester practice SPASE Design – here she answers ADF’s questions on what drives her, from early concepts to current schemes
What made you want to be an architect?
From an early age, I was encouraged to recycle and reuse. My childhood was spent growing vegetables, keeping ducks and bees, and making things. My mother would make our clothes from patterns which were laid out on the kitchen table and we watched as she sewed them together.
My father encouraged us to travel, and during school holidays we would take long road trips navigating and camping throughout Europe. A place that stands out in my memory was a small remote village in Switzerland that had been constructed entirely from slate. I thought it was beautiful seeing buildings blending into the landscape, the roof and walls of the buildings made from one continuous material.
By the time I reached the age of 15 my curiosity in engineering and the built environment had grown into something I wanted to pursue as a career. My studies led me to Kingston Polytechnic and brought me into contact with some highly influential tutors. Jeremy Till, Sarah Wigglesworth, Hilary French and Paul Shepheard all inspired me and encouraged me to follow my passion. By the end of my year out I was ready to start my post-graduate studies and I immersed myself in the creative surroundings of The Bartlett.
I loved studying. My final year diploma project was the ’Master Cycle.’ It was the reunification of the River Thames with its city by reclaiming tidal land, opening the foreshore and allowing access to transient, hidden spaces within the city of London. I proposed to form the London Borough of Thames and to give a focus back to the river. The LBT uses tidal cycles of the river as a vehicle to cleanse the city through recycling wastepaper. The tidal force would be used to pulp paper in giant sacks.
After graduating I moved back to Dorset and started full-time employment as an architect. I thoroughly enjoyed working for a large multi-disciplinary practice where I was able to develop an appreciation for other disciplines by working alongside landscape architects, urban designers, town planners and ecologists. I enjoyed working on high-quality large-scale projects covering the south of England.
What do you most like about it now?
I love designing and running projects onsite, using my experience to provide well-thought-out and considered design solutions. I like being able to manage a client relationship and provide the best possible service. I am also thrilled to be a student mentor, as I find this very rewarding.
What has been your biggest challenge in your career to date?
I would say that my biggest challenge to date was building my house. I had a young family at the time and the house we were living in was cold and too small. I read about the Passivhaus standards in a journal and decided that this was something I wanted to pursue; I thought that I had enough experience in running projects and dealing with contractors that would give me the necessary parameters to design and self-build the house.
There were elements of the design that required development, such as using traditional strip foundations rather than using an insulated raft foundation. I worked up a level threshold detail and ran it through the thermal model. It was satisfying to find the foundation detail worked and was thermally acceptable for Passivhaus requirements as it was cheaper and more straightforward to build for the groundworker than going with an insulated raft system. For 18 months I was able to manage subcontractors, source manufacturers and order materials, obtain quotes and coordinate the various packages. Every day on site was a huge learning experience. The decision to use recycled newspaper as insulation was a good one as it works both in summer keeping the heat out, and in winter keeping the heat in. The timber frame was cut offsite using the CAD drawings and brought to the site and assembled in six weeks. Both elements are hugely sustainable.
What project are you most proud of?
The project I am most proud of is my house where we get to experience and appreciate the Passivhaus benefits every day. The south facing elevation is oriented so that on a sunny winter day the house is filled with warmth and thanks to the insulation the heat stays inside for days. The airtight membranes work hard keeping the heat from escaping, and the heat recovery unit makes sure we have a constant supply of warm fresh air throughout.
My daughter is asthmatic and used to suffer from regular chest infections. Since building the house she has not suffered from a chest infection, and I believe this is due to a better internal air quality from the heat recovery unit.
I also feel proud to showcase the house when touring visitors on the open days for the national network for low carbon open homes and during the last two years on behalf of the International Passivhaus Association open days. Last year I was also invited to a local school to talk to the students about the science behind the Passivhaus. The students also asked me about being an architect, which I was proud to talk about.
What is your next big project?
For the last two years, I have been working as a project architect on a refurbishment and retrofit school in Wimborne, upgrading a collection of Victorian school buildings into an SEN facility for 13-18 year old students. Beaucroft College was one of the first projects in Dorset to be awarded government SALIX funding due to the installation of renewable energy including air source heat pump, photovoltaics and heat recovery systems along with thermal upgrades to the existing fabric. The design team integrated new services into bespoke teaching walls in 11 classrooms and increased daylight by introducing high level roof lights.
The heat recovery units supply warm fresh air into purpose made quiet rooms, and the ceilings have been raised to the apex to give a spacious feel inside the classrooms. The retrofit has been calculated to reduce annual CO2 emissions by 76% and the project was a finalist in the AJ Retrofit and Decarbonisation Awards 2024.
More recently, I have been working on an EnerPHit project, which is a deep retrofit of a 1970s detached house in Devon. The proposals also involved a large single and two storey extensions to the property as well as upgrades to the existing fabric. We assessed several types of construction methods and used the thermal model as a guide when proposing the new materials.
What is the hardest part of your job?
The hardest part of my job since building my house is providing clients with a working drawing package that meets the standard Building Regulations requirements. It is disappointing that the standards and regulations in the UK are so minimal and that moving towards designing low energy buildings is so slow. I feel the only way we can change the industry is to make the regulations more stringent.
What is your next professional goal?
To design more buildings to the Passivhaus standards or retrofit to EnerPHit.
What is your big personal goal for next year?
My big personal goal would be to develop an outPHit project. OutPHit is a deep retrofit made faster, cheaper and more reliable. I would like to explore offsite fabrication and modular systems with high degrees of prefabrication, and research materials such as Hempcrete and wool. To specify biodegradable products such as mycelium could be a good alternative.
Finally, I would like to continue to push the fabric first approach as much as possible and make the most of being part of a great team at SPASE Design.