Recently I was lucky enough to visit the Energy House 2.0 project; a state of the art research facility within the grounds of the University of Salford, purpose built to test the latest in energy saving house building and design.
Stepping into the project is somewhat surreal. Inside the huge 11,300 square foot facility are two giant chambers – each big enough to accommodate two detached houses.
Under controlled conditions, each chamber is able to replicate a variety of weather conditions, simulating wind, rain, snow and solar radiation, with temperatures able to reach extreme lows of -20ËšC and highs of +40ËšC – something the UK experienced for the first time last summer.
It is hoped the research undertaken at the facility will assist not just those builders directly involved, but the wider house building sector in learning how they can significantly reduce the carbon emissions from new-build homes in order to meet – if not exceed – the Future Homes Standard.
The £16m facility is a partnership between the University of Salford, Barratt Developments, Bellway Homes and building material manufacturer, Saint-Gobain, with its construction supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Office for Students.
The home we visited – eHome2 – was built by Barratt and Saint-Gobain and looked like any typical new-build, three-bedroom family home from the outside.
Within the chamber, the temperature had dropped to -2ËšC, with snow on the ground and on one side of the house – something you wouldn’t have known from inside the confines of the well-insulated property.
New ways of heating, insulating and cutting down on water usage in homes are being objectively tested at the facility, with the new homes and their test occupants mimicking day-to-day living conditions in the face of sometimes freezing and tropical temperatures within the chambers.
The facility follows on from the original Energy House Laboratory, which opened in 2012 and focused on energy-efficient retrofit technologies.
Energy House 2.0 is also the next step on from Barratt’s 2021 zero carbon concept home, Zed House.
Also built within the grounds of the University of Salford, the purpose-built home reduced embodied carbon by 125% and showcased what is possible from a mainstream volume house builder.
The Zed House offered an insight into what we might expect from a future eco-home, such as heated skirting boards, air powered showers and a fridge that keeps the right humidity – resulting in 60% less food wastage.
As well as being equipped with some more well-known energy-saving features such as air source heat pumps, EV charging points and solar panels.
Barratt has already announced its intention to make all of its new homes zero carbon from 2030. Given the rising energy and water costs, new energy-efficient homes and retrofitting technology cannot come soon enough.
The house builder recently reported its trading results for the six months to December 31st. While it saw pre-tax profits increase by 15.9% to £521.5m in the six-month period, it also experienced lower reservation rates for future sales – particularly in the second quarter. Although it saw an uplift in trading during January, it cautioned of an uncertain market ahead.
Indeed, the end of the Help-to-Buy scheme means house builders will need to look at new ways to incentivise buyers into the new-build market.
While we could see short-term measures from house builders to encourage buyers, in the long-term, an energy efficient home that offers considerably lower bills and running costs will be what gives new-build homes the competitive edge over their second hand counterparts
Although there is currently no legislative compulsion for homeowners to upgrade their properties to an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C or above, it is a matter of when, not if, such legislation comes into force.
Given the cost and work involved in retrofitting some older homes, we are likely to see a pick-up in demand for energy-saving, new-build homes, which in turn will help push up the new-build premium – especially once buyers see all the mod-cons of what homes such as the Zed House have to offer.
Simon Jackson is managing director of SDL Surveying
