Case Study: RiverHouse Phuket

RiverHouse’s “homes of the future” is a development of 51 state-of-the-art “green” villas, uniquely designed to minimize their carbon footprint. Each house comes standard with an integrated solar system, connecting it with its neighbours, creating a “smart grid” of shareable excess power. This is a new concept for residential development and greatly reduces power purchased from the electric authority.

The development also features: heat-pump water heaters; high-efficiency air-conditioning; centralized dehumidifiers; LED lighting; insulated walls and double-glazed doors/windows. These provide comfortable living whilst reducing environmental impact.

Rainwater is harvested at villas, connected to centralized storage tanks, before filtering and re-use. The main filtration plant is also powered by solar. These homes are nearly self-sufficient, and owners can use a solar-powered tuk-tuk for local transport to nearby destinations.

AVC’s Scope of Work

We began in 2016 as mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineers for the villas and infrastructure. The brief was engineering to international standards; both for safety and quality, while being efficient and high-tech at a reasonable cost. As construction progressed, we also became involved with solar power and an optional Lutron home automation system. Lutron allows mobile and voice control (Siri/Alexa/Google) of lights, shades, air-con and fans. It also offers ease-of-use, timer control, geofencing, and energy-saving features.