Is this the coolest house in Birmingham? (The Stirrer, February 2010)

Richard Lutz takes a look inside an innovative home that resembles a Lego toy slapped down in the middle of a Victorian terrace. And it’s so ecological it’s giving energy back to the National Grid.

You really can’t miss it. This new home in Balsall Heath stands out like a monk in a pub.

It’s the work of architect Jon Christophers who wanted to build his home so environmentally friendly that it creates more energy than it uses.

He and his family succeeded.

They use no fossil fuel: no oil, gas nor coal. But lots of triple-glazing, insulation and ventilation make it a house that’s tight as a nut.

‘During the last cold patch, there was ice on the outside of the windows,’ he tells me, ‘But it was warm inside. No heat escaped in the night. The inside temperature stayed the same.’

What is amazing is that Jon took an established 1840’s Victorian row house and enveloped it in the jumbly angular multi coloured house you see today when you turn a corner into Tindal Street.

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