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It is the intention of this article to demonstrate that earth-sheltered buildings are viable in the UK and that they are increasingly acceptable. To put UK modern earth-sheltering in perspective, the history and development of the UK earth-sheltered movement over the thirty years since 1976 has been researched and compiled. Sufficient material has been gathered to provide the basis for a discussion as to whether earth-sheltered buildings are viable as well as increasingly acceptable in the UK.

What is meant by earth-sheltered building ?
The expression earth-sheltering is interpreted by the author as being a generic term with the general meaning: building design in which soil plays an integral part. This integration may occur in a number of ways. By way of clarification, the author offers an extended definition as follows:-

Author’s definition of earth-sheltering
A building can be described as earth-sheltered if its external envelope is in contact with a thermally significant volume of soil or substrate (where “thermally significant” means making a functional contribution to the thermal effectiveness   of the building in question.) There may be said to be three forms of earth-sheltered building: -
 * earth-covered
 * earth-bunded
 * subterranean

An earth-sheltered building may be designed to combine some or all of these forms. An earth-covered building is one where the thermally effective element is placed solely on the roof, but is more usually a continuation of the earth-bunding at the unexposed elevations of the building. An earth-bunded building is one where the thermally significant element insulates one or more of the sheltered elevations of the building. The bunding can be partial or total. A subterranean building is one where the thermally significant element insulates all elevations of the building, leaving only the roof exposed; or, if the building is built into an incline, it may be that the roof is covered and only one elevation is left exposed.

UK earth-sheltering appraisal
In order to make an appraisal of the UK earth-sheltering movement, it has been necessary to assemble a detailed narrative of its development, which has not been done before. And, since the movement would be nothing without its buildings, in order to tell the story it has been necessary to compile a catalogue of known contemporary UK earth-sheltered projects [See Appendix item 1], something which has also not been done before.

What emerges from this exercise are recognisable trends. Numbers of earth-sheltered buildings have continued to increase over the thirty-four year history of the movement and certain types of earth-sheltered building emerge as favoured above others. Key buildings in the development of the movement are identified as landmarks in its evolution.

An architectural movement could not, especially nowadays, occur without a society of like-minded individuals coming into being; but historically such movements have been sparked by the emergence of a single exponent of exceptional vision and drive, or perhaps, eccentricity. This appraisal will show that the contemporary British earth-sheltering movement is probably no exception, but it will inevitably focus mainly on the body of enthusiasts that has grown up, united by a shared passion and by commitment to a common set of values. That is where the champions of the UK earth-sheltering movement are to be found.

Conspicuous in the narrative is the rarity of any institutional endorsement of the earth-sheltered building type, as also are the lack of any official design guides and the paucity of academic and scientific research; and the recognition of professional bodies has until the most recent times also been conspicuously wanting. Indeed, one might almost question as to whether there had been any UK earth-sheltering movement as such, so resounding is the near absence of attention at these levels.

Despite this, there clearly has been a movement, just as there has been both a steady increase in the number of earth-sheltered buildings built and a substantial change in the quality and budgets of the buildings now coming on stream. It seems that the contemporary earth-sheltered movement in the UK is about to come of age. Evidence unquestionably exists that, as society becomes more and more intensely aware of environmental imperatives, earth-sheltering is moving from the shadows of eccentricity into the welcoming light of general acceptance.

In the 1997 Yearbook of The Guinness World Records in the section on Architecture there is the following entry:- British buildings, First underground house:
 * In 1972 Arthur Quarmby began digging his house, ‘Underhill’ in Holme, West Yorkshire. With an internal area of 325m2 (3,500 ft2) the house has a 6m (20ft) :
 * diameter roof light, a figure-of-eight swimming pool, a music room, and a cave with a peat fire.”

Completed in 1975, Underhill has remained to this day the family home of its architect, Arthur Quarmby. There was an intervening period of ten years before the second UK earth-sheltered building was built. This was Mole Manor, another of Quarmby’s designs. Underhill was the catalyst, or one of the catalysts, that triggered the UK earth-sheltering movement, and Arthur Quarmby might be described as the lone frontiersman whose leading light showed the way forward. But the pioneers of the movement as such were the founding members of the movement’s representative body, the British Earth Sheltering Association, known nowadays by its acronym, BESA. The champions of UK earth-sheltering were (indeed, are) Kevin Rowlinson, Peter Southgate and James Fitzpatrick. It has been said that: “… almost all the UK earth-sheltered building stock can be linked back to BESA’s membership list, either through the building designers or their owners.”

A brief history of the British Earth Sheltering Association
Any chronicle of BESA’s 23 years of activity will cover the greater part of the contemporary history of earth-sheltered architecture in the UK, where BESA has been the prime mover in publicising the concept of earth-sheltering and in promoting its practical application.

The founders of BESA were inspired by the idea that dwellings for human habitation could be more closely integrated with the landscape and with natural eco-systems through earth-sheltering. Soon, however, it was the thermal properties (e.g., high energy conservation) of earth-sheltered structures that were promoted as the main reason for pursuing this form of building solution; and it soon became obvious from the rising number of planning approvals for earth-sheltered buildings in the open countryside where there was a presumption against development that the number of committed advocates of earth-sheltering was now growing.

BESA’s stated purpose is that of a not-for-profit pressure group whose mission is: -

“ ... to encourage the design and construction of earth-sheltered buildings in the United Kingdom”.

The Association’s HQ is at the Caer Llan Field Studies and Conference Centre near Monmouth in South Wales, which doubles as the home of Peter Carpenter, BESA’s long standing Chairman and the second individual in the UK to start constructing an earth-sheltered building. Caer Llan is a single-storey accommodation block completed in 1987 serving the Field Study Centre. BESA’s current membership stands at 120 and the Association has been actively promoting the cause of earth-sheltering in the UK with measurable success.

BESA was founded on Saturday 23rd July 1983 by three architects: Kevin Morel Rowlinson, Peter Southgate, and James Fitzpatrick who published the organization’s first Bulletin in October 1983. The opening remarks of that Bulletin introduced its founding membership in the following terms: “ … Seven bold persons who have committed themselves to furthering the good word of earth-sheltered building design in this country …”    The evangelical note is unmistakable.

As we have seen, when BESA was founded, only one contemporary earth-sheltered dwelling in the UK had been built and occupied. This was Underhill. A further two earth-sheltered buildings were then under construction: Caer Llan Berm House in South Wales and Mole Manor in Gloucestershire.

The germ that was to become BESA lay dormant in Kevin Rowlinson’s mind for many years. He was a recently qualified architect from Liverpool University when, keen to solicit the support of other would-be advocates of this building type, he placed a letter in the Building Design Journal seeking replies from like-minded professionals. He says his motivation: “ … was to garner publicity for the movement of earth-sheltering in the UK and to spread the word”.

His letter received two replies. The first was from James Fitzpatrick, then writing his dissertation, Earth-Sheltered Structures, for his Batchelor of Architecture degree at Liverpool University. The second response was from Peter Southgate, a practising architect living and working in South Wales who had known Kevin Rowlinson from their time as students at Liverpool University.

The triumvirate’s first meeting was arranged for Saturday 23 July 1983 at Peter Southgate’s home, Snowdon View in Dolwyddelan, North Wales. It was at that meeting that BESA was founded. Peter Southgate recalls: “… we all agreed it was important to set up a newsletter to recommend the attributes of earth-sheltering to a wider general public.”

Some interest in the intentions of the dedicated trio had been generated by the time the first Bulletin was published in October 1983 : “ … in addition to three founder members and Arthur Quarmby (honorary member), an additional 14 individuals had asked for further details and some had promised to join.” By the end of the Association’s first year, membership had increased to 40.

By the end of BESA’s first year, news of the Association’s existence had crossed the Atlantic and was reported in the US Journal Earth Sheltered Living in its July/August 1984 issue. The article was entitled: “Group to promote British Earth-Sheltering”. It reported: “BESA produces a regular newsletter and has been given coverage in more of the national architectural journals, with the national newspapers also showing great interest.”

Confirmation that the group’s message was being taken seriously within the architectural profession came from the RIBA. It was in the Association’s first year that BESA was invited to the RIBA’s Headquarters in London at Portland Place to present a talk about The Potential and Applicability of Earth-Sheltered Design in the United Kingdom. On the 9 April 1984, at the Building Industry Conference, Kevin reported that “ … the event proved to be a conclusive success”.

Inspired by the response to his talk, over the next few years Kevin used the material on a lecture tour of British universities. Venues included: Herriot-Watt, Leicester, Newcastle (Winter School), Strathclyde, Huddersfield Polytechnic (Winter School) (with Arthur Quarmby), Cheltenham College (Peter Southgate attended), Liverpool Polytechnic, Cardiff, Manchester, and a few others.

In contrast to the surge of activity during the first year, BESA seems subsequently to have restricted its efforts to disseminate the benefits of earth-sheltering to the publication of its Annual Bulletins. These reported the Association’s first years’ highlights and appear to have constituted its only efforts to inform the architectural profession about earth-sheltered architecture. Towards the end of 1989 BESA’s effectiveness in garnering support was in doubt. After its first five years, attempts to encourage support for the earth-sheltering movement appear to have had little effect in terms of increasing the numbers of earth-sheltered buildings in the UK. The total number of completed earth-sheltered buildings in 1989 stood at four. From the commencement of Arthur Quarmby’s Underhill in 1972 up to the publication of BESA’s December 1989 journal, 20 years had elapsed in which only four earth-sheltered properties had been completed in the UK. Of these, three had commenced on site prior to the establishment of the Association. Only one other earth-sheltered property was under construction in 1989. This was the Sir Joseph Banks Memorial Centre for Economic Botany at Kew Gardens which opened in the spring of 1990.

‘ New ’ BESA
The resurgence of BESA led by Peter Carpenter became informally known as ‘new’ BESA and was launched with a redesigned Official Journal known as Volume 2. Peter introduced his new role as the Journal’s Editor in the first Editorial: “It is with a sense of both privilege and foreboding that I have accepted the job of organising this association and producing the bulletin.”

Peter’s appointment at BESA brought to the organisation the credibility of an earth-sheltered Headquarters (at Caer Llan) and the governance of someone who was at the time the UK’s only designer, builder, and occupant of an earth-sheltered building. By the time Peter Carpenter had taken over the reins of the BESA journal, he had completed his own Berm house accommodation wing and published the results of two years of monitoring. This provided, for the first time in the UK, scientific data about the thermal performance of an earth-sheltered building. The Association took on a more formal structure when ‘new’ BESA held its first AGM the following year on the 17 February 1990 at Caer Llan and recorded in its first minutes:-

“More than 30 members converged on the Centre from as far away as Cornwall, Cambridge and Yorkshire many of whom met other enthusiasts for the first time.

Arthur Quarmby, the celebrated Architect from Huddersfield, who built and occupies the first earth sheltered home in Britain was elected President.

''Stuart Bexon the owner, builder, and occupier of the much-publicised Mole Manor at Westonbirt was elected publicity officer. Architect Peter Southgate, who’s extended his cottage garden right over the roof of his garage in Dolwyddelan, was elected Chairman with Green Magazine Journalist Lucy Tennison as Vice Chairperson. Gwent’s Peter Carpenter, the warden of Caer Llan and designer of The Berm House there, is Secretary.”''

During its first AGM BESA redefined its aims :-

“B. E. S. A. is to promote earth-sheltering in Britain and should strongly advocate its advantages which are as follows:-


 * A)	Efficient use of land
 * B)	Its great amenity value
 * C)	Energy efficiency
 * D)	Practical advantages, e.g. low external maintenance costs.”

The AGM served to formulate the role that BESA was to play in promoting earth-sheltering in the UK and the way in which this aim was to be achieved. It was to act:-


 * a.	As an information base. It was suggested that BESA members should inform Peter Carpenter of any E/S [earth-sheltering] books or other material that they have in their collections so that a central bibliographical record can be kept.
 * b.	Through publicity. B. E. S. A. should publish brochures, articles in magazines organise exhibitions and make videos to promote E/S to the public, planners, politicians and architects.
 * c.	As a nerve centre of a national network of E/S enthusiasts. The newsletter should be produced regularly so that the membership can exchange information and keep up with the latest developments.
 * d.	As a Pressure group to lobby politicians and planners.”

BESA’s national campaign gathered momentum. It had a stand at the Green Show at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, 20 – 24 June 1990. This was BESA’s first major exhibition. An A4 flyer was printed specifically for distribution at the event. As Peter explained: “It was felt that information should be given to those people to whom the subject was completely new.”

The flyer listed the following:-

ADVANAGES OF EARTH SHELTERING


 * Energy Saving – Better potential than any other designs.
 * Low Visual Impact – A softer way to build into the landscape.
 * Long Life Expectancy – Spreading the capital cost.
 * Very Low Structural Maintenance – very little because the building has to be extra strong.
 * Quiet and Private – Noise levels are so low that you may need the radio for company.
 * Light and Airy – Designers use more glass just to combat the idea of being gloomy.
 * Saves Space – Kind to the environment by returning the soil to the site.
 * Landscaping – Potential here for where the building emerges from the ground.
 * Low Fire Risk – because of low air infiltration and solid construction and so…
 * Lower Insurance Premiums.
 * No Draughts – minimum infiltration and the bugs have a job to get in too.
 * Condensation – is not a problem usually because the buildings are so warm.
 * Costs no more - maybe less, to build.
 * Architecturally Exciting – particularly inside without the usual design constraints.
 * Excavation of Materials – usually something useful comes out of the hole.
 * Greater Security.
 * Steep Slopes can make good sites – where conventional building could be impossible.
 * Wind and Weather – go by unnoticed – even tornados and hurricanes.
 * Earthquake proof – well – better than above ground buildings.
 * Global Warming – minimal contribution and not affected should it happen.

‘New ’ BESA: the early years: recession
Peter Carpenter’s custodianship of ‘new’ BESA in 1989 coincided with the sharp downward readjustment in the UK housing market. As house prices fell, so did consumer spending; and long-term unemployment began to rise.

In the early 1990s, UK interest in earth-sheltering as a means of conserving energy would have been in part stimulated by the first Gulf War of 1990. That year, the price of oil peaked briefly at levels akin to those of the early 80s in the wake of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. This probably amplified recessionary forces; but more to the point, it underscored yet again our heavy and perilous reliance on fossil fuels.

In June 1990, the price of oil fell back to pre-Gulf War levels. Annual inflation peaked at 10.9% in September and October of 1990 (Retail Price Index (RPI): www.statistics.gov.uk ) and while the base rates of the four major banks had been 15% in the previous October, they were still at 14% in October 1990 (Bank of England: Selected Retail Banks’ Base Rate). Due to high interest rates and perceptions as to risk, the construction industry was virtually at a standstill during the early 1990s. It is thought that businesses were collapsing at the rate of about 1,200 per week in 1992. [Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS): bized.ac.uk]

The ERM crisis of September 1992 led to a 2% hike in retail interest rates to 12%. On ‘Black Wednesday’ 16 September 1992 the UK was pushed out of the ERM and recovery could begin. Business failures for 1992 were recorded at the end of the year at 62,767. [IFS: bized.ac.uk]

‘New’ BESA entered the last decade of the 20th century, as general public awareness of global-warming was beginning to grow in the shadow of the IPCC’s First Scientific Assessment Report of May 1990 and the onset of the international negotiations for a treaty aiming to avert dangerous climate change got underway. In November 1990, the World Climate Conference in Geneva set about preparing a treaty to control GHG emissions for endorsement at the so-called ‘Earth Summit’ of June 1992 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. This Conference meant further ventilation of the issue of global Warming. One outcome of the Summit was the introduction to Local Authorities of Agenda 21. The Local Authorities Agenda 21 process aimed to empower local stakeholders to adopt a Sustainable Development agenda.

In his Editorial of February 1991 Peter Carpenter remarked that: “ … with the recession and now the war it seems that there is less happening on the earth-sheltered front coming to my attention just at the moment.”

By 1993 there were signs of recovery with retail price inflation lower in June 1993 at 1.2% than it had been in August 1963 (1.4%) (Retail Price Index (RPI) - CZBH - all items: www.statistics.gov.uk ). Unemployment peaked in January at 3 million (IFS: bized.ac.uk) and it began a sustained downward trend, a sure sign of economic growth and reinvestment. However, the economic recovery was not generally perceived until 1996 when consumer confidence and the feel-good factor returned.

‘New’ BESA’s first national exhibition exposure took place at the UK’s first major eco exhibition, The Green Show, at Birmingham’s NEC, 20 – 24 June 1990. The stand was well supported by BESA members who reported: “ … a strong and favourable response from the general public and construction professionals.”. Peter Carpenter later associated attendance at The Green Show as the catalyst for the now growing interest in BESA.

In the first six years of the 1990s, ten earth-sheltered buildings were completed, six more than had been built in the equivalent period of ‘old’ BESA and five more than in the 20 years since the first sod had been turned at Underhill in 1972. The growth in interest in earth-sheltering at the beginning of the last decade of the 20th century was now manifesting itself in a variety of earth-sheltered building types - residential, commercial, and educational. Of these ten, three were recognised as having particular national significance and received high profile coverage in the architectural press and national media. These were the Sir Joseph Banks Memorial Building at Kew Gardens, The Crescent Wing at the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich, and The Castle Mall Shopping Centre in Norwich City centre.

BESA’s escalating membership in 1992 (160, a four-fold increase since 1989) and a swelling post bag instilled a growing confidence in its Executive Committee. This led to their hosting the first National Earth-Sheltered Conference in September 1993 at Coventry University. It was a landmark event with a considerable number attending to listen to national and international speakers. Further national conferences were held at the same venue during 1995, 1996, and 1997, the last.

In 1994 the first UK publication on the subject of contemporary earth-sheltered architecture went on sale: Sod It: An introduction to earth-sheltered development in England and Wales, edited by Peter Carpenter. To date, it is still the only significant publication in the field. Its editor described the book as being: “ ... slung together as a result of increasing demand for information and comprises mostly a series of articles about different topics written over several years for the BESA journal and other outlets.” In the twelve years since its first edition it sold 1500 copies and is to be reprinted. The publication of SOD IT helped to evangelise BESA’s aims to a wider readership, emphasising its role as a pressure group. Peter Carpenter explained :- “One unspoken aim is to cease to exist! The American and Australian societies which covered the interest have folded and this is because the discipline has become sufficiently well-recognised to be treated as normal.”

There was a resurgence of interest in the concept of earth-sheltering in the UK during the years of the recession. In the early 1990’s BESA membership numbers underwent the longest period of sustained growth in its 24-year history, peaking in 1994 with 300 members. It was during this period that a trend became apparent in respect of the duration of individual memberships. David Woods, the Association’s Secretary, explains:-

“Out of all those membership figures there are about 25-30 old timers. The rest vary from year to year. Students tend to stay on for one to two years while self-builders remain a little longer, two to four years.”

At a time when the UK housing market was depressed and the construction industry was experiencing its leanest period for decades, the interest in earth-sheltering was growing.

BESA’s HQ experienced an increase in enquiries about earth-sheltering from the general public in the form of telephone calls, letters, and attendance at exhibitions. At the same time, there was an increase in the number of Planning Applications submitted to Local Authority Planning Departments. BESA had begun to keep records of Planning Applications involving earth-sheltering. By 1993, 70 had been logged, 60% of which received Planning Approval, and half of that 60% were approved through the Appeal process. Such was the level of interest in the first four years of ‘new’ BESA’s life that, for its volunteer staff members and the sole paid Secretary, the task of recording Applications became a burden and was abandoned.

The increase during this period in the number of earth-sheltered buildings, either under construction or completed, marked the beginning of a period of sustained earth-sheltered building activity with numbers increasing throughout the remaining years of the twentieth century.

The easing of the recession in 1996 was reflected in recovering trends in the construction industry for the first time in six years. Rising house prices helped to alleviate the burden of negative equity that many house owners were experiencing. Stronger growth in retail sales reflected the return of consumer confidence. This was reflected in the field of earth-sheltering. For the first time in the history of contemporary earth-sheltered construction in the UK, three substantial earth-sheltered houses were completed in that one year. Furthermore, each was of a different scale, siting and style which, from BESA’s point of view, was long-sought evidence of the viability and adaptability of the general building type. The growing collection of earth-sheltered buildings now included a wider variety of uses and users again demonstrating the adaptability of earth-sheltering.

The first of those three projects was Bridge Lake House, an earth-covered dwelling located in the Oxfordshire countryside and integrated into a railway arch. The second project was the home of Rabbi Jonathan Black, The Underground House, located in the London suburb of Bushy Heath. This family dwelling is subterranean and developed on what was classified as back-land, because it is built in what used to be the rear garden of his house. The third project, Bromwich House, is an earth-covered dwelling on a grand scale with many luxurious trappings. The property nestles in the leafy suburbs of the London parish of Highgate.

For the fourth year running, membership of BESA had sustained its numbers in excess of 200 with no let-up of enquiries at BESA headquarters. The Third Annual Conference that year at Coventry University provided yet another opportunity to raise the profile of earth-sheltering within a national context. Later that year, Peter Southgate, BESA’s Chairman and the last remaining of the three founding members of BESA, retired. During his tenure at ‘new’ BESA, he saw the organisation achieve those aims which he had first enlisted to support at Kevin Rowlinson’s invitation in 1983.

By the end of Peter Southgate’s Chairmanship of BESA, a total of fifteen earth-sheltered properties had been built in the UK. Fourteen of these projects had been constructed during the thirteen-year life of BESA, four during the 1980s and an additional ten within the first six years of the 1990s. Within the last six years of his Chairmanship, there were more earth-sheltered properties built than in the previous 20 years in the history of contemporary UK earth-sheltered properties.

Under the new Chairmanship of Peter Carpenter, 1997 proved another bumper year for BESA, with a further three earth-sheltered properties completed that year. Karmer Farm [See Fig. 13] in the Cambridgeshire Fens, provided organic farmer Will Taylor and his family with their ideal home. In the contrasting Wiltshire landscape, Hans Klaentschi designed Ancliff Down, an architectural delight. Edward Cullinan’s first earth-sheltered project, The Archaeolink Visitors’ Centre in Aberdeenshire, was at the time the UK’s largest earth-sheltered development and received widespread national press coverage and peer recognition, not to mention a plethora of awards. Also in the news that year was another high-profile earth-sheltered project then under construction, “ … the UK’s first earth-covered, self-sufficient, ecological housing development”. This was The Hockerton Housing Project (HHP) [See Fig. 14]. To extol the HHP’s ecologically sound credentials, three members of the project team, Nick White, Simon Tilley, and Nick Martin, presented a short paper at the 4th National Earth Sheltered Conference on 11th November 1997, entitled On Our Way Down! In their presentation they explained that:- “The Project is designed to offer a model of sustainable living for the 21st Century – working in partnership with the local council to meet Agenda 21 targets.”

This was the first time an earth-sheltered building had been designed to such high environmental performance standards with the benefit of input from academic research. The ideas underlying the HHP were developed by its architects, Brenda and Robert Vale, from their first-hand experience of designing, building, and living in their own home, The New Autonomous House at Southwell (Nottinghamshire), which is now recognised as an industry benchmark for achieving autonomous servicing.

The profile of earth-sheltering received an unexpected lift from TV ratings when millions of young TV viewers were introduced to The Teletubbies and their earth-sheltered home. Such was the phenomenon of the cult TV show that it was the experience of many earth-sheltered building owners and designers, that the term Teletubby became an epithet for their homes and work. Commenting on the phenomenon, David Woods said:-

“What has become interesting is the number of times their earth-sheltered home is mentioned in conversations, newspaper articles, and people enquiring about BESA!”

This often disparaging association of earth-sheltered buildings with the Teletubbies was not limited to small-scale projects. Even those with high-profile projects did not escape. After the publication of Edward Cullinan’s design for the Archaeolink Centre, the following letter was sent to Building Design magazine by a gentleman from East Sussex:-

''“I was surely not alone in recognising the resemblance of Edward Cullinan’s, Archaeolink bunker to the Teletubbies’ house. Is Edward a fan? I think we should be told”.''

One BESA member passed on a newspaper article which reported:-

''“According to the BBC spokesman, the Tubbies' home is designed to have a contemporary high-tech feel, but she denies that the ideas for 'tubbietronic' dome could have been borrowed for the Millennium Dome. ‘Tubbie-dome', she claims came first”.''

Such was the phenomenon of The Teletubbies that the programme has been sold to 120 countries and translated into 45 languages. Reporting in the BESA journal, David Woods wrote:-

“A milestone in the construction of the buildings near Southwell (in Notts) was recorded in September by Central TV cameras as 500 tons of earth were placed on the roof of the 5-home terrace.”

With the assistance of The Teletubbies, 1997 proved to be a milestone in the development of UK earth-sheltering. The year was also to prove a turning-point in the battle against global warming as the world’s most important climate change treaty was formulated in the Kyoto Protocol. Whilst the Protocol was not ratified until October 2004, an international agreement on strategies for cutting emissions of GHG to 1990 levels by 2012 was reached. As the arguments about the issues of global warming intensified and the debate about the likely consequences of climate change for the construction industry, speculation about the future design of buildings often featured in the Press.

The national profile of earth-sheltered buildings that year (1997) had been fortified with a significant increase in their numbers and by the positive peer reviews received in respect of a number of high-profile earth-sheltered buildings. This was echoed by BESA’s Secretary at the November 1997 AGM:-

“The media continue to show an interest in the subject and through the year there have been a number of radio and TV interviews and discussions”.

It is no surprise that at a time when BESA appeared to be coming of age its Chairman, summing up the year’s achievements, should pose the rhetorical question:-

“So much seems to be happening that one wonders if BESA has completed its role”.

During 1998, for the first time in six years, BESA’s membership numbers dropped below 200, providing an indication of what was to become a long-term downward trend. Membership had peaked in 1994 at 300, having risen every year for the first six years of ‘new’ BESA. However, the decline in BESA’s membership subscriptions was not echoed in the level of general public interest experienced by the Association in terms of enquiries directed to its headquarters. Nor did it manifest itself in the numbers of earth-sheltered buildings being built country-wide or in the successful planning applications being reported through the journal.

“ … there continues to be a steady stream of enquiries, TV and radio interviews.

In the following year, as reported by David Woods, there was to be no diminution in media interest:-

''“The Association continues to attract a considerable amount of public, and much student interest on a day-by-day basis. The office receives on average 10 –15 enquiries per week, and this figure rises sharply following any article in the national or local Press.”''

''“In more recent months there has been a renewed growth in the volume of media interest, in all its forms. Radio and TV station coverage has been on the increase, together with a notable rise in ‘specialist’ magazine interest.”''

“With regard to the latter, ‘Self Build’ and ‘Build It’ have published several articles specifically on Earth Sheltering, and there are follow-up articles planned for later in the year.”

For a third year in succession, three additional earth-sheltered projects had been completed. But, unlike the two previous years, these projects produced seven buildings, a record number of earth-sheltered properties for 1998.

Chiddenbrook Doctors’ Surgery in Devon built themselves an earth-sheltered Dispensary, while in Pembrokeshire Tony Wrench and Jane Faith built That Round House, adding a further two properties to the earth-sheltered building stock. A further five houses were provided by The Hockerton Housing Project (HHP), which after a long period of gestation and a high public profile, were formally opened in October 1998 by the Construction Minister, Rt Hon Nick Raynsford MP. HHP’s development of the fundamental tenets of a sustainable lifestyle was so highly applauded that it led them to set up their own publishing company, HHP publications, which published The Sustainable Community, A Practical Guide and Sustainable Housing Schemes in the UK, a Guide with Details of Access.

The HHP project became the UK’s first earth-sheltered housing development and is still the UK’s only self-sufficient, earth-sheltered, ecologically integrated housing development. From its inception the project was professionally managed and professionally promoted, developing a range of services that include:


 * Guided Tours of HHP – The tours generally cover low energy/passive solar house design, renewable energy systems, autonomous water services, sustainable transport, and issues involving living and working together.
 * Consultancy – Advice on eco-design of homes and services based on experience.
 * Talks and Presentations – Project members are frequently asked to talk to a wide range of external audiences about the project and related subjects such as sustainable construction, water systems and community matters.
 * Contact Database – Providing enquirers with contact details for further information. A match-making service is also being developed.
 * Workshops on various aspects of sustainable development, including technical design, water systems, community set-up and financial considerations. Also courses on the use of willow for basket weaving and living structures.
 * A small range of publications and sustainable products – See website.
 * Website – The website has a specific section: “The Sustainable Community”, which complements this guide and other services. It includes general details about the project, highlights key research findings, news about other sustainable communities, and has an exchange facility.  Other key sections include a virtual tour, links to other organisations, details of guided tours, and other services.

The construction and successful continuous occupation of the HHP has culminated in its becoming established in the eye of the interested public as the epitome of sustainable earth-sheltered development. This benchmark Project received a plethora of awards, including the Business Commitment to the Environment (BCE) Award 1999, the UK Solar Prize 2000, and European Solar Prize 2001. The earth-sheltered movement in the UK as a whole now looks to the HHP as one of the country’s most exemplary sustainable developments. It is no surprise that, as a result of the unprecedented volume of media coverage, the peer recognition, the numerous awards, and its central geographical location in the Midlands, the members of the HHP soon came to complement BESA in the task of promoting of earth-sheltered development in the UK.

In 1999 BESA’s membership numbers dropped to 160, only half of its 1994 levels. At the last AGM of the first millennium, the Secretary recorded the Chairman’s introduction:-

''“Although the media interest is still increasing despite membership numbers being at a relatively low level, Peter was convinced that there was a good reason for BESA to continue unless the hardcore of the members took a different view. With confirmation of support from the floor, Peter closed his introduction.”''

The recent decline in BESA’s membership had for a long time been perceived by its Chairman as a positive trend. This he explained in his opening introduction to the AGM in 2000:-

''“ ... the acceptance of the principle of earth sheltering by the general public, the need for the promoting bodies has subsequently reduced; in 1992, the university based association in Delft closed. In Australia, partly due to Sidney Baggs’ illness, their newsletter / paper closed. In the USA, the internationally recognised research centre in Minneapolis run by Ray Sterling, closed.”''

Optimism at the AGM was running high. David Woods recorded:-

“ … the sale of the Sod It book had also risen, and the contacts made through the Centre for Alternative Technology had been beyond expectations.”

In his Chairman’s Report at the same AGM, Peter Carpenter predicted that:-

“In the year 2000 there will be more earth-sheltered projects on site than ever before in this country.”

In his presentation, Arthur Quarmby reflected on BESA’s past performance:-

''“Looking back over the years that BESA had existed, we must not forget that BESA is still a pressure group. After years of being considered as unusual, and the target of strange humour, our benefits were now being incorporated into many more policy documents; and generally part of more people’s vocabulary. Was this the result of a general increase in the public’s interest in ecological problems and solutions?”''

By the end of the twentieth century, the UK’s stock of contemporary earth-sheltered buildings had reached a total of 26 [See Appendix Item 1]. Over the 30-year history of contemporary earth-sheltered buildings in the UK, there has been an increase in the numbers of buildings constructed in each decade. One earth-sheltered building was constructed in the 1970s, and four in the 1980s. The 1990s saw 21 earth sheltered buildings built, and fourteen of those were completed in the second half of that decade. Over half of the UK total of contemporary earth sheltered buildings were constructed in the last five years of the twentieth century, more than had been completed in the previous 25 years.

The advent of the new millennium was marked by a growing global preoccupation with global warming and its potential for dire consequences. But in the epilogue of his book Ambassadors from Another Time Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Research Institute made an optimistic observation:-

''“ ... if humans are smart, repairing the environment could become of the biggest businesses of the coming century, a huge source of profits, jobs, and general economic well-being. “The potential profit….is limitless”, one Japanese official has said, because the market is all but limitless.”''

On April 14th 2000 Wall Street took its biggest one-day fall in history (Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS): bized.ac.uk) as the dot.com bubble burst. In September of that year oil prices reached a ten-year high, the highest since the Gulf War (IFS: bized.ac.uk). UK farmers and truckers blockaded the Shell refinery at Stanlow in Cheshire. By 13 September, perhaps the majority of the UK’s filling stations had run out of fuel. Panic buying at supermarkets followed. Nationwide, buses and trains were cancelled. Schools shut down and hospitals cancelled all but emergency operations.

Occurring concurrently with this man-made calamity, natural disasters struck the UK on the evening of October 30th in the form of heavy storms, followed by some of the worst floods in 50 years. As these events unfolded, the media abounded with global warming stories.

In December, the BRE published their Report, Potential Implications of Climate Change in the Built Environment. The Report opens with the rhetorical question :-

Climate change. Just the beginning or an elaborate hoax? Hurricanes and tornadoes in England and France. Snow in Spain. Wild fluctuations of temperature in Australia. Floods in Mozambique. Are these recent events due to climate change and global warming, or are they just bad weather?

Nobody can ascribe any single weather event directly to climate change: but a consensus of climatologists worldwide agrees that human induced global warming caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases has begun.”

At the beginning of the third millennium there appeared to be more open agreement about the repercussions of man’s poor custodianship of his planetary environment than at any other time in history. But despite the chiliastic excitement and the growing awareness of environmental issues, BESA’s membership continued to decline [See Fig. 10]. Even so, its mission promoting a more environmentally responsible form of development was beginning to be reported more widely. Confirmation that earth-sheltering had at last emerged from its ‘eccentric’ niche was reported by Sarah Butcher writing in the Financial Times; -

''“Seen for so long as an impractical oddity, underground houses appeared to be gaining recognition. An increasing number of underground buildings may soon see the light of day.”''     (17 / 18 June 2000) Sarah Butcher quotes David Woods, then Secretary of BESA:-

''“ ... it is only in the past 18 months that 20 years of largely unheated promotion of such homes resulted in surge of interest. It’s taken a long time, but people are starting to realise the high quality and low running costs of earth-sheltered housing.”''

In his Annual Report for 1999/2000 (A Country City: Towards a Greener Stockport)  Stockport Unitary Authority’s Director of Public Health, Dr Stephen Watkins, officially recognised the beneficial potential for human well-being of the earth-sheltered environment. In the Report, Dr Watkins includes a photograph of Chiddenbrook Surgery’s earth-sheltered dispensary. He says:-

''“... subterranean buildings can preserve open space on land that has been built on. There is scientific evidence to support the contention that green environments raise the human spirit - the concept of biophilia.”''

Given the UK’s growing environmental consciousness, it comes as no surprise that earth-sheltered buildings, now increasingly numerous, began to take on many forms as the basic building type evolved and was adapted to meet clients’ need to reduce their environmental impact.

Sainsbury’s supermarket at Greenwich Peninsula in London (2001) employs a range of energy saving devices to limit fossil fuel consumption: wind and solar power, natural light, passive ventilation, on-site power generation, its own water borehole;  the perimeter of the building was earth-bunded to mitigate heat loss and the structure was superinsulated and of high thermal mass.

Another recently completed earth-sheltered building, on the outside shaped like a Cumbrian hill, was built into a redundant quarry. It was claimed that, at 85,000 square feet, the recently completed (2001) Rheghed Visitors’ Centre is Europe’s largest earth-sheltered building. Quarry materials excavated from the site were used in its construction. Seven glass atria provide high levels of natural daylight and ventilation.

2001 saw yet another innovative design solution testifying to the adaptability of earth-sheltering, providing buildings of low environmental impact with high energy-conservation credentials. Mile End Park, London, incorporates two earth sheltered buildings in the Art and Ecology Park. Both utilise an ‘insulation umbrella’, a passive annual heat storage method developed by the Rocky Mountain Research Centre. South facing triple-glazing combined with a low emissivity film and argon gas filled cavity encourage passive solar heat gains. External insulated shutters, passive ventilation, and natural daylight contribute to the building’s low energy consumption. The client’s choice of earth sheltering is explained on their website:- “ ... as well as being innovative, cheap to run, and stunning to look at, the earth- sheltered buildings were also chosen to help overcome planning restrictions for constructing buildings on metropolitan open land.”

As part of the regeneration of a former coalmining settlement, Bill Dunster’s Earth Centre Conference Centre and Entrance Buildings near Doncaster provide an extensive set of design solutions in response to the Client’s brief, which called for a carbon-neutral building which would demonstrate how other buildings could reduce CO2 emissions. It was also to show how waste could be minimised and toxic materials eliminated from the construction process. Earth-sheltering was used to reduce the visual intrusion of the building’s into the open countryside, whilst reducing some of the effects of adverse weather conditions. A water reservoir below the building is used as a heat store, transferring heat back into the building during the winter months. Gabion walls provide additional thermal storage, while super-insulation helps maintain a steady internal temperature. A substantial quantity of salvaged local building material was used at all stages of the construction process.

On a smaller scale, still in 2001, Gillian Tewkesbury’s long-term ambition to design, build, and occupy her own earth-sheltered building came to fruition at Dereham in Norfolk. A long-standing ‘new’ BESA member, Gillian used designed-in techniques to reduce the reliance of her home on exogenous energy sources. An array of passive solar design techniques and renewable energy applications produced a useful demonstration in an urban setting of high-energy conservation principles using earth-sheltering.

In 2001, for the first time, the British Government introduced statutory guidance for designers and builders. The Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) provided an energy cost rating and a Carbon Index to quantify the associated carbon dioxide emissions.

On the 19 March 2001, Parliament’s Select Committee on Health addressed the issue of earth- sheltering and its potential contribution to public health. It agreed:- “ ... we are sorry that the debate about the green belt has shied away from radical solutions such as earth-sheltered building.”

In addressing the question as to what the benefits of earth-sheltering were, their response listed:-


 * 1. Reduced visual intrusion
 * 2. Brings a green aspect to built-up areas
 * 3. Double use of space -  roofs can be used for gardens or open spaces
 * 4. Potential for increased housing density due to the double use of space
 * 5. Energy efficiency”

They also went on to ask the question: “Why isn’t earth sheltering more widespread?”, and provided the response:-


 * 1. Inertia
 * 2. Doubts about public attitudes
 * 3. Construction firms and architects reluctant to learn more skills
 * 4. People haven’t heard of it
 * 5. When they hear of it, it is so alien to our current experiences that they think it is a joke
 * 6. Association with The Teletubbies ”

In answering the question: ‘What are its planning benefits?’, their response was:-

“ ... open space provides exercise opportunities and raises the human spirit”.

In concluding their report they ask: ‘What can be required?’ And this was no rhetorical question. They replied:-

“ ... we can reasonably require earth-sheltering in any area where we permit the release of open space for development.

We can reasonably require earth-sheltering on any development that is large enough to provide a self-contained area of useful space.

Roof gardens and earth sheltered perimeters in new industrial parks would create large areas of public open space and introduce the surrounding area to the concept of earth-sheltering and change attitudes towards the relationship of buildings to greenspace.”

The first year of the third millennium proved to be promising for the earth-sheltering movement. Five important sustainable buildings were completed. After 18 years of campaigning, 27 earth-sheltered projects had been completed and 33 buildings produced.

In the second year of the new millennium, BESA launched its website. It promotes the virtues of earth-sheltering. BESA’s membership had now declined to under a 100 for the first time since 1990, the year of its first AGM. The only earth-sheltered building to be completed in 2002 was the UK’s first purpose-designed earth-sheltered architect’s offices, which are located in the South Lincolnshire Fens. This was the first of two earth-sheltered buildings, collectively known as the Long Sutton Work-Life Project, which are the work-place and home of its architect / owner / builder, Jerry Harrall, MD of SEArch Architects Ltd. The project advertises a strictly low-carbon work-life ethic that is now fossil-fuel-free. It is zero-heated, has ‘zero’ CO2 emissions, with family and company cars running on 100% bio-diesel manufactured locally in Long Sutton,

Impressed by the success of SEArch’s offices, the Flagship Housing Group commissioned SEArch to design what is the UK’s first earth-sheltered social housing scheme at Honingham in Norfolk. The scheme, which has received an Innovation and Good Practice Award from the Housing Corporation, was completed in 2003. It comprises four two-bed, four-person, earth-sheltered, passive solar design (PSD) bungalows. The rationalised specification insisted on (and achieved) a reduction in the greenhouse gases emissible during the construction process. Providing conclusive evidence of the performance of these ‘social rented’ properties, tenants Garry and Keron Lawson have gone on record in a variety of media to let the public know how they reduced their weekly electricity costs to £3.80 per week, inclusive of VAT. This achievement is recorded in the CPRE’s Norwich Cathedral launch booklet, Green Buildings in Norfolk. These buildings and their tenants have provided a living example of the practicability of that most laudable of injunctions for our day and age: Use less energy.

The finite and increasingly precarious supply of fossil fuel was by these early years of the new millennium generally recognised as an unsustainable means of obtaining energy, which also had drastic consequences for the global climate. In February 2003, the DTI published the Energy White Paper: Our Energy Future – creating a low carbon economy. This document identified the immediate environmental challenges for the present generation:-

“ ... the first challenge we face is environmental. Climate change is real. Levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, one of the main causes of climate change, have risen by more than a third since the industrial revolution and are now rising faster than ever before. This has led to rising temperatures; over the twentieth century, the earth warmed up by about 0.6oC, largely due to increased greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. The 1990s was the warmest decade since records began”.

In March 2003, coalition forces led by the US and the UK launched an invasion of Iraq, claiming pre-emptive military action had been necessitated by the threat of Iraq’s putative possession of weapons of mass-destruction. No such weapons have apparently yet been found but coalition forces still, in mid-2006, remain in occupation in a pacification mission which also aims to assist in the establishment of an autochthonous democracy, but with concomitant implications for the stability of the oil market. Not for the first time BESA’s future was under review at its 2003 AGM. David Woods reported:-

“ ... the reduction of size of B.E.S.A was not surprising when compared to similar histories of other international earth sheltered associations. Basically, after 20 years of promoting the concept, the resulting media coverage, greater public awareness and level of unknown projects had significantly increased. Through 2003, there had been an increasing inflow of information about projects more likely to reach site, which had generated the more interesting September newsletter. Having said all of that as long as there was a call by the membership to continue there was no reason at this stage to consider self-destruction!” While overall membership declined, new members continued to sign up. The December newsletter announced that BESA had signed up its 1000th member:-

“Paul Hamilton, his wife Sheila and his daughter Samantha, live way up north of Scoraig, a small peninsula in the north west of Scotland, just south of Ullapool.”

The film release of Tolkien’s Trilogy and the introduction of Frodo the Hobbit and the concept of Middle-Earth to the screen-viewing public served once again, but on a vaster scale than The Teletubbies, to add currency (although perhaps not credibility) to the earth-sheltering idea. In an article entitled The Rise of the Downwardly Mobile, journalist R Davies declared in The Sunday Telegraph on March 16, 2003 :-

“The final film of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is to be released this Christmas when, all being well, Frodo the hobbit, shall be able to return to the quiet life back in his burrow once more. A small but increasing number of non-hobbits will also be heading back to their burrows, as the fashion for underground or earth sheltered living takes root among the big people as well. The Royal Institute of British Architects now lists more than a dozen partnerships throughout the country that specialise in underground buildings.

Underground structures are more energy efficient and competition and bargain basement rates have made mortgage lenders less sniffy about financing underground homes than they were even a few years ago. Now one of the last barriers, customer resistance, has been rolled back. As increasing numbers of public buildings, libraries, schools, visitor centres, and even factories are being built into the earth, and people are becoming more accustomed to the idea.”

Early in 2004 Shell announced that it had overstated its oil reserves by 20%. On January 9, the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir David King, issued a statement on global warming. He said:-

“In my view, climate change is the most severe problem that we are facing today, more serious even than the threat of terrorism.” Throughout the year, the price of oil see-sawed to new highs, peaking at the end of October at $55/barrel (IFS: bized.ac.uk), and experts began mooting a foreseeable $100 barrel.

In April 2004 defra (Department for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs) published ‘Energy Efficiency: The Government’s Plan for Action.’   In the foreword, Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP, the then Secretary of State, stated:-

“As the effects of climate change become more evident, and the need for action across our society and across the globe becomes more urgent, energy efficiency must assume a still more prominent place in our thinking not only in the UK but across the world.”

Big institutions using government funding needed to pay heed to the direction of government thinking. Autumn 2004 saw the completion of BDP’s (Building Design Partnership) ecologically high-performance earth-sheltered Business School for Napier University’s Craiglockhart Campus, Edinburgh. On the other hand, the voluntary sector effort continued to be highly innovative. Michael Reynolds completed the first UK Earthship project, the Earthship Fife Visitor Centre at Kinghorn Loch, albeit small at 40m2. The earth-sheltered building achieves energy autonomy generating a surplus of energy from electricity provided by photovoltaics, wind, and a water wheel. Solar water-heating panels provide an all-year-round supply of hot water; rainwater is harvested, grey water is recycled, and black water treated to produce fertiliser.

Meanwhile, the Long Sutton Work-Life Project (LSWLP) reached completion. The architect’s offices had been completed in 2002 (see above). Now, the architect in question (Jerry Harrall) was ready to move the other part of his life (the domestic part as opposed to the working part) into his new earth-sheltered home, which he had built adjacent to his offices to enhance the net sustainability of his own and his family’s work-life carbon footprint. The LSWLP advertises the strengths and virtues of a low-carbon work- / lifestyle with a view to setting an example in the context of the government’s drive towards the low-carbon economy.

Over the period of 2005 – 2006, a further five earth-sheltered buildings were completed in the UK. An additional five projects comprising eleven buildings are due for completion in 2007. Michael Reynold’s second Earthship project is nearing its final stages in Brighton, while the construction of the UK’s first earth-sheltered business campus is underway on site and will comprise offices, a cafe, a classroom, and an eco-house which is to operate as a living laboratory, with completion anticipated in 2007.

All the earth-sheltered properties under construction at the time of writing aspire to achieve zero-heating, ‘zero’ CO2 emissions and a degree of energy and waste autonomy.

Refferences:
 * Baggs, S.A. Baggs, J.C. Baggs, D.W. 1991. Australian Earth Covered Building.  New South Wales University Press. P25.
 * Baggs. S.A. 1981. Effects of vegetation upon earth-cooling potential. University New South Wales. PP88 & 89.