Orientation of house to road vs. preferred orientation for sun

[Alan Ambrose]

Hi,

 

I have a question I have not been able to find the answer to after a few hours of Googling...

 

It seems generally accepted to design with the principal elevation of a new house parallel to the road. Depending on the compass direction of the road though that doesn't work necessarily very well for the best orientation to the sun for solar panels and shading etc. 

 

Ideally, for best sun direction I would like to orient the house about 45 degrees to the road. Are there some 'planning rules' somewhere which might prevent that?

 

TIA, Alan 

[Russell griffiths]

Can you not design the front at the front, just to please the planners, but have other sections of house orientated to do what you want. 

[Alan Ambrose]

>>> Can you not design the front at the front, just to please the planners, but have other sections of house orientated to do what you want. 

 

That's actually a bit tricky as the plot is long-ish and narrow-ish. The questions is: are there actually some 'rules' somewhere or is it just convention?

 

Alan 

[Bonner]

No rules, it depends on the specific location and fitting in with the ‘street scene’ as well as any overlooking issues.

[Alan Ambrose]

Ah interesting, thanks.

 

Alan

[ProDave]

Ours is angle perhaps 15 degrees off parallel, done to fit in with other objects on the plot to make the house fit better.  No complaint from the planners, but other houses in the road have done similar.

[Russdl]

We demolished a bungalow and then rotated the new build through 90 degrees to optimise solar gain and solar PV orientation. This was all explained in the Design and Access Statement highlighting the environmental benefits of the change of orientation. We are 90 degrees out of orientation with the houses that surround us but as we’re down the end of a track and there is no street scene as such the change of orientation wasn’t mentioned once by the planners (but hundreds of times by people wandering past!)

[SteamyTea]

Set it up so you can have unshaded PV in the roof as close to South facing as possible.

[joe90]

I also turned the build through 90’ to get solar gain, if you say in your application it’s for sustainability reasons, PV, might help your cause!

[Alan Ambrose]

OK, v. good info and thanks everyone for the quick feedback.

 

Alan

[saveasteading]

3 hours ago, Alan Ambrose said:

I would like to orient the house about 45 degrees to the road. Are there some 'planning rules'

There might be rules about not being nearer to the road. 

Check your local plan. Design what you want. Explain your reasoning to the planners.

Solar panels angled and to the south , smallish windows facing south, big  windows facing north,

[Ferdinand]

Don't forget that "principal elevation" is also a definition used in the sense of "what is facing the road" - to manage things like Permitted Development.

 

I always think that houses with varying orientations look classy, contrasting with "little boxes, all the same".

 

Propose the best solution for your needs, and build an argument to justify it. But pay attention to how you will live as well as how you will minimise energy.

[Temp]

5 hours ago, Alan Ambrose said:

Ideally, for best sun direction I would like to orient the house about 45 degrees to the road. Are there some 'planning rules' somewhere which might prevent that?

 

A lot depends on what other houses are already there.  If the houses either side are clones of each other and very obviously face and front the road the its more likely a new one between them woukd have yo be similar. If you already have a random mix of designs and orientations,  perhaps screened from the road by trees then it's going to be a lot less of a problem. 

[Nickfromwales]

East - west split for PV will be plenty useful enough, and that’s what I’m doing. My ridge runs S - N. I expect a very long solar day. 

[Chanmenie]

13 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

East - west split for PV will be plenty useful enough, and that’s what I’m doing. My ridge runs S - N. I expect a very long solar day. 

That’s interesting @Nickfromwales I have been considering some PV, my ridge runs S-N so was wondering if West facing PV panels would work well enough 

[Johnnyt]

In terms of orientation of arrays, here’s my set up, the top being my garage roof 

these panels are 340w roughly  east and west split with the lower panels being 325w all fully integrated roughly south facing.

I’m happy with the performance and covers most of the day.

I’m sorry about the clarity if the image.

[Ferdinand]

28 minutes ago, Johnnyt said:

In terms of orientation of arrays, here’s my set up, the top being my garage roof 

these panels are 340w roughly  east and west split with the lower panels being 325w all fully integrated roughly south facing.

I’m happy with the performance and covers most of the day.

I’m sorry about the clarity if the image.

 

 

Can you do a Google satellite view clip?

[Johnnyt]

Here’s Google earth and a drone shot

[Alan Ambrose]

>>> East - west split for PV will be plenty useful enough, and that’s what I’m doing. My ridge runs S - N. I expect a very long solar day. 

 

Yeah, we also have an existing little barn which is '15 degrees more SW facing' i.e. the ridge is about 345 degrees (NNW-SSE) and we like that orientation a lot. We get morning sun on the front and evening sun on the back together with no S-facing windows so we don't overheat. That's what we are trying to emulate on the new plot plus adding some solar panels.

 

Alan 

[Alan Ambrose]

@Johnnyt

 

Errr, with the various drone, solar planning and Google earth shots, I can't quite figure out which way is up. Google earth & solar planning - North is up? Drone shot - up is South East?

 

Alan 

[Johnnyt]

North is as per the Google earth shot, N top image

On the drone image the fence on the left hand side runs pretty much north south with the road being the southern  end, part of site plan now added 

Edited July 19, 2022 by Johnnyt

[Alan Ambrose]

Ah OK understand.

 

>>> Design what you want. Explain your reasoning to the planners.

 

Good point. I plan to do a pre-app with our preferred orientation making a big deal about the 'eco-benefits' of good sun orientation - hopefully and bearing in mind the recent heatwave those arguments should have some sway - I'll let you know.

 

Alan

[Iceverge]

On 19/07/2022 at 12:45, Alan Ambrose said:

>>> East - west split for PV will be plenty useful enough, and that’s what I’m doing. My ridge runs S - N. I expect a very long solar day. 

 

Yeah, we also have an existing little barn which is '15 degrees more SW facing' i.e. the ridge is about 345 degrees (NNW-SSE) and we like that orientation a lot. We get morning sun on the front and evening sun on the back together with no S-facing windows so we don't overheat. That's what we are trying to emulate on the new plot plus adding some solar panels.

 

Alan 

 

 

On overheating I find South Windows are no issue as they're so easily shaded from the high summer midday sun. It's  the West windows that are the real bugger. 

 

We have only about 4m2 of glazing to the west spread over 4 windows but they definitely cause the most discomfort. In the evening ( summer or winter) you'll have the effect of sun shining directly onto your skin making an otherwise comfortable room temp too hot. Ok if you close the curtains. 

 

We faced the main glazed orientation of our house to about 155deg ( South being 180deg). 

 

This was partly for views but it also brings "house noon" forward by about an hour helping the house heat faster in the morning and reduce solar gain in the afternoon at the expense of overall daily global solar gain. 

 

Seems to work well. 

 

 

[Alan Ambrose]

>>>

We faced the main glazed orientation of our house to about 155deg ( South being 180deg). 

 

This was partly for views but it also brings "house noon" forward by about an hour helping the house heat faster in the morning and reduce solar gain in the afternoon at the expense of overall daily global solar gain. 

<<<

 

Ah sounds clever. Google isn't helping with 'house noon' - possible to describe?

 

Alan

[SteamyTea]

3 minutes ago, Alan Ambrose said:

 

Ah sounds clever. Google isn't helping with 'house noon' - possible to describe

https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/

 

My noon is 28 minutes after Greenwich's