Passive housing brings new life to a 300-year-old farm

People have lived at Stenberg farm in Hudiksvall since the 1700s. The farm has now been converted into eight apartments, built according to the Passive House Standard. Natural grey Troldtekt line has been chosen for all eight apartments.

Hudiksvall in the province of Hälsingland in eastern Sweden was the home and workplace of Klas Boman until a few years ago, when the farm was converted into a major housing and renovation project.

"For 40 years, the farm has served as a workplace for my old company. But when we sold the company in 2017, we had 800 square metres standing empty. We then decided to create housing on the old office premises," explains Klas Boman, owner of Boman&Compani.

Recycling and the Passive Housing Standard

The building now has eight apartments, three of which are brand new developments. Another four have been completely renovated. Klas Boman and his family live in apartment number eight. There is a total of 1,254 square metres of living space, with the largest apartment measuring 243 square metres and the smallest 116 square metres.

"Our project aims to demonstrate how you can build and live with a low CO₂ footprint and that it is possible to take an approach to housing construction that allows a building to last for another 300 years. The idea is that all materials are selected from a life-cycle perspective.

"We recycled as much as possible.  We reused timber from the oldest remaining house on the farm, a beamed house from the mid-1700s, to make a new facade. The new building resembles the old one, but only the panel is actually old. All the rest is new."

The homes are built according to the Passive Housing Standard. This has also meant that the craftspeople had to be trained to build according to the various requirements for environmental and climate conditions, as well as the right choice of materials.

Troldtekt as part of the design

The interior walls are made of birch plywood. The ceilings in six of the eight apartments have been fitted with Troldtekt acoustic panels.

"Troldtekt is fantastic in a variety of ways. The Cradle to Cradle concept that Troldtekt follows is impressive and inspiring, and when you consider Troldtekt's great properties as a product and how quick and easy it is to install, the choice was obvious," says Klas Boman.

Good sound absorption is important, as the apartments have ceiling heights of between 3.4 and 6.5 metres and floors made of concrete and oak. Here, Troldtekt excels by its ability to absorb sound extremely effectively.

"Grey natural Troldtekt line was an excellent match for our birch plywood walls and the grey concrete floors. Troldtekt line brings simplicity, straight lines and a clarity of design, a feature that runs through all eight apartments.