BioNest

Welcome to BioNest, the UK’s resource for designing, building, and living in truly sustainable homes and eco-habitats. Discover zero-carbon retrofit guides for Victorian terraces, passive-house new-build best practices, and community-led co-housing models in urban and rural settings. Use our interactive “Eco Score” calculator to evaluate energy use, embodied carbon, water footprint, and biodiversity impact for any property. Explore case studies—from straw-bale cottages in the Cotswolds to green-roof flats in Manchester—and join a nationwide network of eco-architects, builders, and householders transforming the way we live.

Who are you?

BioNest was founded in 2023 by a multidisciplinary team of architects, building-services engineers, ecologists, and community-development specialists united by a vision: to make sustainable, regenerative housing the norm across the UK. In the face of climate change, biodiversity loss, and housing shortages, we believe that homes can—and must—be part of the solution, not the problem.
Our founding directors include a Chartered Architect (RIBA), a CIBSE-accredited low-carbon engineer, an Ecologist Chartered by CIEEM, and a social-housing policy expert. Based in Bristol with regional hubs in London, Edinburgh, and Cardiff, BioNest operates at the intersection of design innovation, technical rigour, and community empowerment.
We organise our content and services around three pillars: Design & Build, Performance & Monitoring, and Community & Policy. Under Design & Build, you’ll find in-depth tutorials on fabric-first retrofit, timber-frame construction, and off-grid systems (solar PV, heat pumps, rainwater harvesting). Performance & Monitoring provides guidance on MVHR commissioning, smart-meter integration, and post-occupancy evaluation to ensure your home delivers on comfort, health, and efficiency promises. Community & Policy covers co-housing models, funding streams (Green Homes Grant successors), planning-authority negotiation, and neighbourhood-scale ecological regeneration.

We also run the BioNest Academy—CPD-accredited courses for professionals, peer-learning circles for self-builders, and open-access webinars on emerging topics like mycelium insulation and agrovoltaics. Our open-data platform publishes anonymised performance metrics from hundreds of UK projects, enabling evidence-based improvements and policy advocacy. By blending technical excellence with grassroots collaboration, BioNest is cultivating a movement to re-nest our communities in harmony with the living world.

Our edge

  • Fabric-First Retrofit Methodology

    BioNest champions a fabric-first approach: prioritising high-performance insulation, airtightness, and thermal-bridge elimination before adding mechanical systems. Our retrofit guides cover external wall insulation (EWI) for solid-wall Victorian homes, internal insulation strategies that avoid moisture traps, and roof-and-floor upgrade options using natural materials (sheep-wool, wood-fibre boards). We provide step-by-step detailing—junction treatment, vapour-control layers, breather membranes—and live case studies showing measured U-values improving from 2.0 W/m²K to below 0.15 W/m²K. This emphasis on the building envelope reduces heating demand by up to 80%, lowers fuel bills, and prolongs component lifespans.

  • Off-Grid & Renewable Energy Integration

    Whether you’re retrofitting a rural cottage or specifying a new urban development, BioNest offers detailed design workflows for integrating photovoltaics, wind micro-turbines, biomass boilers, and heat-pump systems. Our interactive load-matching tool calculates generation versus demand profiles, battery-storage sizing, and grid-export strategies under UK weather data. We include wiring schematics, MCS-compliance checklists, and O&M schedules to ensure performance and safety. Real-world project reports demonstrate payback periods under current UK tariffs, feed-in-tariff successors, and Smart Export Guarantees, enabling you to achieve true energy autonomy.

  • Passive House & Low-Energy Standards

    We provide comprehensive resources for meeting Passive House (PHI) and EnerPHit standards in UK contexts—addressing thermal bridging, ventilation heat recovery (Mu-value optimisation), and shading design for variable latitudes. Our downloadable PHPP (Passive House Planning Package) templates incorporate UK climate files, occupancy patterns, and internal-gain profiles. We walk you through airtightness testing (blower-door methods), PHI-certified component selection (windows, doors, MVHR units), and quality-assurance protocols. Case studies include retrofit of a 1930s semi achieving 0.6 ACH@50Pa and new-build terraces surpassing 15 kWh/m²a heating demand—a blueprint for ultra-low-energy living in any British postcode.

  • Water-Sensitive Design & Biodiversity Enhancement

    BioNest emphasises water efficiency and habitat creation as integral to sustainable homes. Our guides cover rainwater harvesting system design—tank sizing, filtration, plumbing integration—and greywater recycling for WC flushing and irrigation. We provide SuDS-compliant permeable paving details and living-wall modules that support pollinators. Ecological design chapters explain native-plant selection, wildlife-corridors, and bat-box integration, backed by CIEEM-reviewed species-habitat matrices. Projects showcase measured reductions in mains-water use by 50% and documented increases in urban biodiversity indices—transforming homes into net-positive eco-habitats.

  • Performance Monitoring & Post-Occupancy Evaluation

    Ensuring that sustainable homes deliver as designed requires rigorous monitoring. BioNest’s Performance Dashboard modules guide you through sensor selection (temperature, humidity, CO₂, energy meters), data-logger configuration, and cloud-integration for live analytics. We teach you to interpret key metrics—air-change rates, heating-system COP, solar-yield performance—and run occupant-comfort surveys aligned with CIBSE TM52 standards. Our anonymised UK-wide dataset enables benchmarking against similar dwellings, revealing performance gaps and informing continuous improvement. This feedback loop is critical to validate design assumptions and refine future projects.

  • Community-Led Co-Housing & Policy Advocacy

    Beyond individual homes, BioNest supports collective models—co-housing, eco-villages, retrofit neighbourhood clusters—that leverage shared resources and democratised decision-making. Our how-to guides detail legal structures (co-op, community-benefit society), funding mechanisms (Community Housing Funds), and participatory design workshops. We document successful UK initiatives—Freiburg-style cohousing in Stroud, co-op retrofit pilots in Sheffield—and extract lessons on governance, financial viability, and social cohesion. BioNest also publishes policy briefs advocating for supportive planning reforms, tax incentives, and building-regulation updates to mainstream sustainable housing at scale.
Our solutions
Bespoke Eco-Home Design & Architecture
Our RIBA-chartered architects and low-carbon engineers collaborate to deliver customised eco-home designs—from concept sketches through planning submission to detailed working drawings. Services include site analysis (solar access, wind patterns), fabric-first specification, renewable-system integration, and full compliance with UK Building Regulations (Part L, F, O). We produce 3D BIM models, energy-modelling reports, and neighbour-consultation materials to expedite approvals. Every design balances performance, aesthetics, and budget, ensuring your home is comfortable, beautiful, and future-proof.
Retrofit Project Management & Implementation
We manage end-to-end retrofit projects for existing homes: initial energy audit, detailed retrofit specification, contractor tendering, construction supervision, and post-works performance verification. Our project managers coordinate multidisciplinary teams—insulation installers, MVHR specialists, renewable-energy engineers—to deliver on time and budget. Regular site inspections, QA checklists, and client-dashboard updates guarantee transparency and quality, turning complex retrofit schemes into seamless upgrades.
Passive House Certification & EnerPHit Consultancy
For clients pursuing Passive House or EnerPHit standards, BioNest provides full PHPP modelling, airtightness testing coordination, and certification submission services. We guide you through every PHI protocol—component selection, on-site quality assurance, and final blower-door tests—ensuring projects achieve certified ultra-low-energy performance. Our expertise de-risks the certification process and unlocks benefits in comfort, health, and energy savings.
Monitoring-as-a-Service & Data Analytics
Subscribe to our Monitoring-as-a-Service package: sensor installation, cloud-data integration, dashboard customisation, and quarterly performance reports. Our analysts interpret data trends, identify system inefficiencies, and recommend tune-ups—whether adjusting MVHR balance, recalibrating heat-pump controls, or tweaking occupant behaviour strategies. This continuous support ensures your home remains optimised for comfort, cost-savings, and environmental performance.
Community Co-Housing Facilitation & Training
BioNest supports groups seeking to develop co-housing or retrofit neighbourhoods. We provide facilitation workshops, legal-structure advice, financial-model development, and design charrettes. Our training programmes equip resident-leaders with skills in consensus decision-making, maintenance co-ordination, and eco-governance, turning shared-housing visions into thriving sustainable communities.
Policy Advisory & Funding Application Support
We assist developers, local authorities, and non-profits in securing grants, tax incentives, and planning approvals for sustainable-housing projects. Our policy team prepares funding bids—UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Future Homes Standard pilot schemes—and crafts evidence-based policy briefs to influence regional planning frameworks. By aligning projects with governmental d

Contact

Address:

Leny Feus, Callander, Perthshire FK17 8AS, UK

Email:

bionest@live.com

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