Orientation, overshadowing, daylight and solar gain

• Streets should be arranged to face due South (to optimise useful winter solar gain and reduce risk of overheating)
• Leave room for green amenity space to the South
• Allow a distance of 1-1.5 times the building’s height between buildings
• Design green amenity space to receive sunlight as per BRE guidance
• Position occupied spaces on the South façade

Glazing

• Favour horizontal windows over vertical glazing
• Use a g-value of around 0.5
• Use LETI glazing ratios: north = 10-15%, east = 10-15%,

     south 20-25%, west = 10-15%

Shading

• South Elevations – use horizontal brise soleil and projecting balconies
• East / West Elevations – Use shutters or external roller blinds

Ventilation

• Good opportunity for cross ventilation. Open plan living can maximise this.

Green spaces

• Incorporate blue green spaces into masterplan

Maximise PV

• Often feature North / South pitched roofs: move ridgeline to create asymmetric pitch with majority South facing
• Maximise renewables so that 100% of annual energy requirement is generated on-site

Opportunities and Constraints 

• Terraced streets offer a good opportunity to maximise South orientation. This optimises useful solar gain in winter and reduces the risk of overheating in summer (South facing glazing is easier to shade than East / West)
• Large areas of South facing roof are an ideal candidate for PVs
• Cross ventilation is much easier to implement. Open plan living can maximise this.
• Due to their large surface area (per useful floor area), low-density new build houses can have high heat loss. By optimising South facing glazing useful solar gains can offset this.