Ok, I am newbie to this site. I am begging for your advice already!!!

I have outline planning permission for a storey and a half house in the highlands of scotland. I am now moving to the detailed planning application and am considering my options for building materials etc. I will be building a 4 bedroom house so its like to be quite big and has an excellent unrestricted south facing position. Enough land for heat pump.

If you were in my shoes, which of the technologies would you seriously consider installing and what about the structure? I am little overwhelmed at the moment. For example;
Use ventilation heat recovery?
Air or ground heat pump?
U value of insulation, materials of construction and thicknesses???
Collect rainwater or not?
Triple glazed or not?
Where to buy from to keep costs reasonable???

Like the the subject states, I need to know where to start.

Thanks in advance,
Tintin

Excellent thank you Nick.

I have been following the passivhaus requirements and think that this is the method that I will go with. It's just so difficult to get honest advice from suppliers who, for obvious reasons only recommend the kit the can supply.

Anyone know if there is passivhaus suppliers in Scotland?

Is it very rural - are you going to be on mains water? Saving rainwater might be a bit pointless in a very wet climate. I live in West Wales, and our water comes from a borehole; given our position on the side of a very wet hill with only a few houses nearby, water supplies are more or less unlimited in practice.
Again, if it's rural I'd go for a woodburning stove or boiler rather than any type of heat pump - simpler, cheaper.
i would definitely go for triple glazing; I also quite like the idea of having windows no wider than twice the wall thickness, so that you can fit internal insulated shutters that fold back against the reveals rather than having curtains.

Wow. The response is more than I could have expected.

I am in a fortunate position where I can get the labour very very cheap and the kit manufactured from scratch for me. Therefore I can spend a little more making it airtight. I really appreciate people who are giving me names of kit that they recommend. Heat pumps are being heavily promoted where I am, but I have my own reservations about these long term.

Ok anyone care to add something they know now that they really wish they did at the start of build???

Trying to make this useful for all other people.

Many many thanks

Think an=bout buffer zones, and passive solar heat collectors, provided you have enough thermal mass.

In Scotland I wouldn't bother with rainwater - what you save in water bills you will pay in increased energy cost to run the pumps etc, and increased carbon and massive increased install cost.

And James suggestion is best - then work down from your site, form and orientation.

I'm not getting any kick back from Keith for saying this but buy the Green Building Bible ... and read it. £17.00 squiddish for the pair and money well spent (if you read it). I've bought these but haven't read them. My reason is 1) it's too late (for me) now and I'd really rather not know what I should have done and haven't and 2) I'm saving them for a topping off gift to the archi who is a sympathetic but novice green. My cursory perusal leads me to wish I'd read the books before I started.

Thanks very much Caliwag. Downloaded and will read over the next couple of nights.

Mrswhitecat, I have order both volumes now, and should get them shortly.......I found the Irish Passive House Spec very useful too from Sustainable Energy Ireland. Well worth a read.

Interesting how "where to start" doesn't quite get the juices flowing. I would have thought that this should be the most exciting thread. Everybody
starts with a notion and and a grand idea...and needs advice, or at least support.
OK. A couple has bought a wrecked bungalow (the best way to pick up a plot)
what next...architect or what? I ask the question. Where do people go?

well, I agree with pretty much every thing already said, but will reiterate, INSULATION INSULATION INSULATION, and as wookey said, allow from the outset to incorporate a LARGE thermal store, this will couple well with UFH, upstairs will most likely not require heating if the insulation and airtightness are up to spec.

Ensure that you have adequate thermal mass in the building, but ensure that it is isolated from the cold ground below.

I would be sceptical of the benifits of rainwater recovery in a wet climate, beyond a small volume for gardening purposes.

Do you have woodland on your land?

DO include solar water heating, it is cheap for what it does.

Ventilation withh heat recovery is essential if your air tightness is up to scratch.

Triple glazing - absolutely, but ensure that the frames are well installed, as triple glazing with draughty reveals is a waste.

Beware of the usual gravy train of command that people get sucked into, architects, main contractor, site agents etc etc, they can all have a part to play, but be aware.

Brandon.

I agree, pretty much, with all of the comments above but would add:

-- Use ventilation heat recovery?

Airtightness is on a par with insulation in importance. Assuming it's good then once you get to any sensible level of insulation (say at least twice as good as building regs though a bit more would be better) it is far cheaper, per W·K⁻¹, to use heat-recovery ventilation than to add more insulation so that's pretty much of a no-brainer.

You're talking about a fairly large house so this is likely to be more significant than with some as conductive heat-loss goes with the surface area of the building (r²) whereas ventilation requirements go with the volume (r³).

-- Air or ground heat pump?

As has already been said, maybe. Assuming yes, the heating load should be low enough that the cost of ground source isn't justified. Is there water accessible from the site to make water source feasible?

-- Collect rainwater or not?

How far are you from the grid, i.e., how much will mains water connection cost? The cost of a rainwater system rises steadily as you move from just gardening to lavatory flushing to bathing to potable. There's a balance to be struck depending on the initial cost of the mains connection and the cost per cubic metre of water. The book The New Autonomous House by Brenda and Robert Vale has good discussions of a complete rainwater system (off-grid, including potable) for a house in a small town in Nottinghamshire and also of the systems used on islands off New Zealand.

This is very interesting as we have too just secured a plot and are at the where to start stage. Can someone clarify the 'heat store' concept referred to. We probably plan to build cavity block as that is about the only method builders here are familiar with and will provide good thermal mass.

Heat store aka thermal store = (invariably) large tank of water, large when using for space heating means (ish) 1500-3000ltrs, coils/external heat exchangers to get heat in and out. Hence need for planning where to put it early on in process.

I'm no pro at this but it is hard to believe how a good new design iaw suggestions above could justify a heat pump - just a rather beautiful cassette type pull down glass front wood fire with a back heat exchanger for me mmmmmmm.

A note on practicality - I like glass, in fact most people like glass (some secretly!) especially with a wonderful aspect - it is easier and more purely 'green' to have poky windows but if it were me I would design in solutions to lots of nice glass rather than live in the dark. Also, more glass=more (or when its tough easier) resale value. (don't anyone shoot me for generalising either - it is a fact). Finally, I have lived in Scotland, north coast, I do remember a few days once when it was hot - but designing in overheat protection, especially big overhangs? - ....... Just another opinion.

So, this heat store, how is it heated? (sorry if that is a basic question) Can you expand on how the heat is captured - where from - and how it is redistributed, and anything else for that matter.
Thanks

ok point taken, will do.