Ben Ridley on the future of sustainable home design

A buzzword in every field, from food and drink to fashion and travel, not just living, but thriving sustainably, has come to capture the creative zeitgeist – and for good reason. When it comes to sustainable home design, however, how to achieve it without compromising on aesthetics, comfort, or cost?

According to statista.com, around 80 per cent of first-time and 73 per cent of second-time buyers in the UK were likely to consider a green home in 2022, with the most important reason being that they’re better for the environment – followed swiftly by the fact these homes also help save money on energy. With savvy environmental measures able to reduce energy consumption by 30-40 per cent, water consumption by 20-30 per cent, CO2 emissions by up to 35 per cent, and improve air quality, it’s a key question that buyers and designers should be considering when purchasing or refurbishing a property.

Ben Ridley, founder of Architecture for London, has won awards for his endeavours building some of the most sustainable homes in the capital. Dedicated to the creation of inspirational architecture and interiors, his combined aesthetic, engineering and construction know-how includes new build architectural homes, refurbishments of heritage properties and house extensions – all of which prioritise the values and benefits of thinking green.

Having won a DMI Environmental Leadership Prize for the extension and refurbishment of his own Edwardian house in Muswell Hill (as well as becoming an AJ Small Projects finalist and landing on the RIBA London Award shortlist), Ridley created a comfortable, low-energy home by revealing the original structure of the property while celebrating its “modest beauty” – and, of course, installing key sustainability measures.

“This project aims to be an exemplar for the sustainable refurbishment of a typical terraced home in London, with a constrained budget. Both embodied energy and energy in-use have been considered in depth,” says Ridley, who prioritised insulating, triple-glazing and improving airtightness, while allowing the original Edwardian facade to be preserved. Natural materials, including stone, timber and lime plaster, were also used throughout in place of cement-based products.

“It was a very dark and damp house, which hadn’t been refurbished in over 40 years,” Ridley continues, remembering its red floral carpets and pink flock wallpaper. “The design process has carefully balanced energy usage, budget and aesthetics, avoiding compromise, and transforming it into a draught-free home, filled with calming, natural materials. Features, such as the window seat in the kitchen, are now very inviting even on the coldest of days.”

While people often think of sustainable design as expensive, Ridley says there are several straightforward but meaningful measures people can take to make their houses greener. “As a studio, we look for the ‘low-hanging fruit’,” he explains. “We always keep this simple sentiment in mind across our work, so that sustainable choices can be made minimally, or incrementally, to improve overall energy performance.”

For Ridley, the open plan area downstairs, which includes a kitchen island and window seat opposite, is his favourite space in the home. “The limestone island is in the centre of the ground floor, so it really works well as the social heart of the home. We designed it without cupboards to appear as a solid block of stone in the space. The slight polish means that it gently reflects light, and the way the light reveals the fossils in the stone is beautiful.”

While celebrating the modest beauty and Edwardian character of the original building, Ridley was simultaneously able to upgrade the materials that no longer served it, and in so doing, achieved an impressive 80 per cent saving in heating costs. “The final result has been extremely rewarding,” he concedes.

Other projects led by Ridley’s design vision include Stone House, a Grade II-listed villa in Islington, which was extended and refurbished to create a home with generous spaces for gathering and family life. The rear extension is designed as a stone pavilion, where Ridley used locally-sourced agglomerate stones selected for their low embodied energy, to form a plinth upon which limestone piers could rise, forming the structure of the extension. Heavy, oak-framed glazing follows the proportions of the historic facade with a large pivot hinge door opening onto the terrace, while an oversized concrete header was honed to reveal limestone quarried in Derbyshire with a “visual weight [that] suggests permanence”.



“The existing rear lightwell was extended to form a stepped sunken terrace of bush-hammered stone appearing to have been carved into a rock face,” says Ridley. “The terrace curves to follow the sun’s path throughout the afternoon in a series of benches bathed in light.” A secluded room for yoga provides a contemplative space, with an expansive view of the sky inspired by James Turrell’s skyspace structures, while the bathrooms continue the notion of carved-out spaces. “The rich textures of limestone and Tadelakt walls create cave-like monastic rooms dedicated to the daily rituals of ablution. We cast a series of bespoke concrete elements in our workshop, including basins and fireplace hearths.”

Barnsbury House, a Georgian home that Ridley and his team refurbished and extended for an art historian and museum curator, is situated in the Barnsbury Conservation Area. “The client’s brief called for interiors that blend the contemporary with the classic,” says Ridley. “This led to a design inspired by Jim Ede’s approach at Kettle’s Yard, with both modern and antique furniture, fittings, finishes and objects, with interior spaces designed as places to entertain, raise a family, think, read, and write.”

While the lower ground floor was previously a dark space with a convoluted kitchen arrangement, it is now a light-filled, multi-functional family space, with brick tile floors. “Historic soot-stained fireplaces are revealed and celebrated, while original timber joists in the ceiling are exposed. The bespoke kitchen features Carrara marble work surfaces, English oak cabinetry fronts in a textured sawn finish, and internal carcasses lined in a heritage red painted timber,” says Ridley. To make the project as green as possible, reclaimed finishes were used wherever possible, including stone on the rear patio and bricks on a new side wall, while the original rear outrigger was insulated internally to improve thermal performance.

With 25 per cent of global carbon emissions coming from building and construction, according to Ridley, even incremental steps by switched-on designers can make the world of difference. “We create healthy buildings with natural, breathable materials and achieve the highest sustainability and comfort standards. This approach creates warm, low-energy homes and workplaces that are a joy to inhabit.”

Ben Ridley’s top sustainable home design tips:

• Use natural, low embodied energy materials, ideally locally sourced. This usually means using timber and natural stone, whilst limiting the use of concrete and steel.
• Insulation, airtightness and triple-glazing are the key to reducing the energy consumed when heating your home. If you can achieve an airtightness level better than around 5 ACH then mechanical ventilation with heat recovery should be considered. 
• External insulation performs the best but internal insulation is often used when there are conservation issues to consider. Any internal insulation must be breathable to avoid the risk of condensation. 
• Airtightness can be achieved with a membrane (e.g. Intello Plus) or with a thick layer of lime plaster applied to existing brickwork. Lime plaster also has a beautiful finish meaning no paint is required. All gaps and joist penetrations will need to be sealed with airtight tape.
• In listed buildings, it is often possible to add new triple-glazed windows where original windows have been lost. If original windows exist, then draft proofing and secondary glazing is usually the best option.
• Try to reuse materials where possible. Brickwork can often be carefully demolished and then reused elsewhere in a project.
• Loft conversions can often be designed with a timber structure only, i.e. without the need to specify multiple steel beams, thereby reducing embodied energy.
• Small changes can sometimes have a big impact! Simply installing a draft strip around a front door and adding an internal magnetic insulated letter box flap can significantly improve its airtightness.
• Be sure to watch out for ‘greenwashing’ red flags. Green roofs, for example, may have some benefit to insects but have no effect on the thermal performance of a building, so they shouldn’t be the main feature of a sustainability strategy, as they sometimes appear to be.

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