Although David Hammond's house was built in the 19th century, there is more to his Victorian home than meets the eye.

Mr Hammond, a qualified architect, has transformed his end-terrace house in East Street, Osney Island, into an eco home for the future.

Renewable energy initiatives and building work have reduced its annual carbon footprint by a whopping 60 per cent.

And in a bid to encourage others to follow his example, Mr Hammond and his wife Barbara, will be opening their home to the public tomorrow (Saturday) between 3pm and 5pm.

Mr Hammond said: "When I started out as an architect I tried to get clients to go with more insulation and renewable energy as a way of saving resources and money.

"It was hard to get them to take it up, and so when we moved in here I thought, 'why not do it to prove that you can do it and it makes a difference'."

Mr Hammond said there were structural issues with the house that allowed work to be carried out in a way that fitted in with his vision.

He said: "We were able carry out the work to our home and think about how we could do it in a way that would be sustainable and conserve energy."

Improvements included insulating the walls externally, fully insulating the loft and replacing windows with high performance double glazing in wooden frames.

The heating system was also fitted with the environment in mind, with a space and water heater, both fed by a large water thermal store tank.

This is maintained at a temperature of 45C by a combination of solar and heat pumps - costing £3,100.

Heat pumps are electrically powered compressors that extract heat from the local environment and concentrate it at the temperatures needed for heating. Normally this would work from a ground water source, but the Hammonds' system draws its heat from the nearby River Thames.

The couple also replaced large areas of the roof with solar panels above the south-facing side and rear of the kitchen - at a cost of £3,600.

Mr Hammond said it would be unrealistic to expect people to do all the work in one go as he had.

He said: "It is expensive, but if people carry out little jobs when they are doing work, they can do it bit by bit. The savings you make in the long run far outweigh the cost of the work, provided you have it done by qualified builders."