WEST Devon's first 'underground' house heated purely by the sun and the earth could be built near Bere Alston if planners give the go ahead next month. Residents Pete and Helen Silcock are proposing to build their sustainable home or earth shelter into the hillside, replacing a stable building on the skyline on land at Chumland Cottages between Bere Alston and Bere Ferrers. The only part of the house which will be visible — to someone with a high powered telescope standing on the Tamar Bridge — will be the glazed frontage, which is south-facing. With its amazing views overlooking the Tamar Valley, the River Tavy and the Tamar Bridge, the house would comprise a large central area with a lounge, dining area and kitchen, a bathroom, three bedrooms and an office. The passive space heating system works whereby in summer the air enters the house through an earth tube and is warmed by the sun; moving through the second tube it warms the cooler soil. In winter cool air enters, is heated by the warm earth and passes to the house. Mr Silcock said: 'The passive space heating will pass the heat from the solar conservatory into the surrounding soil during the summer, reversing in the winter bringing the stored heat into the house. 'This has been done before in the United States, and it took two years to heat the ground and to get that balance of heat in. 'With our climate in the UK I think it will take a good year, so the first winter we will be looking at getting some extra heating in but after that there will be no heating costs.' Mr Silcock, whose design has attracted interest from the producers of Channel Four's Grand Designs, has estimated the house will take two years to build, doing much of the work himself, at a cost of around £100,000. 'It is quite minimalist and simple in design and the house is not going to be huge at all,' said Mr Silcock. Mr Silcock said he had been investigating concepts for a sustainable house for about five years but it was only after speaking with planning experts that the concepts turned into something more concrete. 'It ticks all the boxes as far as minimising power use is concerned and its impact on the local area is very negative,' he said. 'It actually improves the landscape because it takes away the stable building on the skyline.' If planning consent is given the Silcocks could be realising their dream in a couple of year's time. 'What I am most looking forward to is to sit on the lawn having a barbeque – on the roof of the new house,' said Mr Silcock. West Devon Borough Council planning officer Ed Persse said the underground house was an interesting application. 'This is certainly not run of the mill and I understand it does not require any heating so from a carbon neutral point view it is quite exciting,' said Mr Persse. 'In this day and age climate change and global warming are at the forefront of people's minds and I expect we will see applications like this that reduce the carbon footprint and minimise the impact on their surroundings more and more.' Mr Persse said the application would only go before the planning committee if the ward members for Bere Ferrers requested, otherwise it would be decided under officers' delegated powers.
