© Colin Usher practicing as MicroTecture c 2025
News…
on my Projects
Progress at 11 Lang Lane : 3 net zero carbon Homes for rent
The project is complete and the properties are now fully occupied and working well. All the low energy strategies are proving to be very worthwhile for the occupiers with very low energy use and comfortable living conditions. You will find a couple of comments from them in the Comments page of this site.Continued improvement at 19 Lang Lane
Each year we experiment with slightly different ways of running the house to optimise the carbon footprint and energy costs. We do this without affecting our comfort! In 2025 we are aimed to generate as much energy as we import and to have an agregate energy cost of zero. We have now fitted a battery to our system so we did much better than that; we generated 180kWhrs more than we imported and we made a net profit on our total energy costs of £440! This year (2026/27) we anticipate a much larger profit as we have now subscribed to a Virtual Power Plant which uses spare energy from our battery to support the National Grid during power shortages.
Special Offers
Depending upon the project and the circumstance (and my workload) i can offer fee reduction of up to 15%. Feel free to ask, but please bear in mind that i will usually charge the full fee quoted here.
Eco Retrofit in West Kirby
I recently completed an Eco- retrofit refurbishment of an existing run down house on a prominent site near Ashton Park. The proposals included External Wall insulation, double glazed windows, excellent air tightness combined with MVHR, PV solar panels and Airsource Heat Pump powered underfloor heating. This house will not be as low energy as my recent new-build low energy projects, but it is exceeding expectations and is significantly better than almost all 100 year old buildings in the UK.
© Colin Usher practicing as MicroTecture c 2025
News…
on my Projects
Progress at 11 Lang Lane : 3 net zero carbon Homes
for rent
The project is complete and the properties are now fully occupied and working well. All the low energy strategies are proving to be very worthwhile for the occupiers with very low energy use and comfortable living conditions. You will find a couple of comments from them in the Comments page of this site.Continued improvement at 19 Lang Lane
Each year we experiment with slightly different ways of running the house to optimise the carbon footprint and energy costs. We do this without affecting our comfort! In 2025 we are aimed to generate as much energy as we import and to have an agregate energy cost of zero. We have now fitted a battery to our system so we did much better than that; we generated 180kWhrs more than we imported and we made a net profit on our total energy costs of £440! This year (2026/27) we anticipate a much larger profit as we have now subscribed to a Virtual Power Plant which uses spare energy from our battery to support the National Grid during power shortages.
Special Offers
Depending upon the project and the circumstance (and my workload) i can offer fee reduction of up to 15%. Feel free to ask, but please bear in mind that i will usually charge the full fee quoted here.
Eco Retrofit in West
Kirby
I recently completed an Eco- retrofit refurbishment of an existing run down house on a prominent site near Ashton Park. The proposals included External Wall insulation, double glazed windows, excellent air tightness combined with MVHR, PV solar panels and Airsource Heat Pump powered underfloor heating. This house will not be as low energy as my recent new- build low energy projects, but it is exceeding expectations and is significantly better than almost all 100 year old buildings in the UK.
