House Made By Many Hands / Cairn

Working against the grain and thinking outside the conventional steel and stud wall box, emerging architecture practice Cairn has pioneered the use of a new low-carbon concrete in its latest project, a house renovation and extension in Hackney, east London. House-made by many hands is the first building structure in the UK to specify a low-carbon limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) concrete, a new material that generates 30-40% less CO2 in its production than standard Portland cement. Commissioned by an environmentally conscious client, the compact Victorian house renovation has been a testbed for LC3, a product that can reduce total global CO2 emissions by 1-2% if adopted universally by the construction industry. The project demonstrates how a Victorian house can be renovated and extended with a substantially reduced environmental impact – 40% lower than a typical build deploying conventional concrete, steel frame box, and plasterboard.