Seaton Beach

Seaton is a traditional Devon seaside town, but an imposing new seafront development is anything but traditional. Seaton Beach Apartments is the first UK multi-residential development to be certified as passive house plus.

Some claim that passive house standard is easier to achieve with simpler, box-like forms, resulting in aesthetically limited buildings – which is certainly not the case here.   

Design ingenuity involving the Schöck Isokorb®, has enabled large balconies with sweeping curves to create a striking finish.   

The Isokorb product used has an innovative high-density micro-fibre reinforced concrete HTE Compact compression module, which transfers both negative moments and positive shear forces with cantilever balconies; or positive field moments combined with shear forces.   

The ground floor of the development is concrete, with a monolithic clay block construction from the first to third floors and a timber frame for the penthouse.   

This, combined with a high-performance external render and internal plaster, results in an entirely mineral hygroscopic wall build-up, which regulates humidity and provides a comfortable internal environment.   

The thermal breaks are installed where the balconies meet the clay block structure.  Ineffectual insulation at these cantilever connectivity points will result in local heat loss, so more energy is required to maintain the building’s internal temperature.   

Low internal surface temperatures around the thermal bridge can also cause condensation, leading to structural integrity problems and the occurrence of mould growth.