Case Study: Project 80 Collaboration
Ensuring new homes are more efficient and sustainable than ever, meeting the Future Homes Standard three years early, through detailed monitoring, analysis and construction.
Summary
The UK has a set a legally binding target to bring all its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025. Construction is a big contributor to this, so the Government has introduced new Building Standards, known as the Future Homes Standard.
As part of Project 80, a programme of projects in partnership with Midland Heart Housing Association, the Centre for Future Homes has been part of a 12 home construction project focused on designing and developing more sustainable homes that meet the standard, three years ahead of schedule and resulting in 80% less carbon emissions than the 2013 standard.
Delivery
Through the programme The Centre for Future Homes academics looked to develop a ‘living lab’ environment. Providing detailed monitoring, occupant interviews and case study analysis of design, construction and operation of homes with the focus of developing research to help Midland Heart and future construction businesses learn and improve their techniques.
The programme considered the following aspects -
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Project Design and Implementation – Design changes and modifications to the way the homes were built.
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Costing, economics and carbon accounting – The resources required to create new homes needed to be cost efficient and balanced against economic and environmental impact. The on-cost in construction, occupation and environmental impact were all assessed.
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Building performance and modelling – Changes made to achieve the Future Homes Standard and performance gaps were addressed with real data.
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User Satisfaction and learning analysis – The occupant is central to the success of the home. Different needs of a diverse population with different lifestyles and capabilities is accounted for.
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Evaluation of industry implications, whole life, economics and preparation – Changes to create Future Homes have long term implications for the whole industry. New skills, working practices, products, supply chains and maintenance practices were considered.
Results so far
As a result the Centre for Future Homes are currently delivering:
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Cost benefit analysis of the proposed changes for developers and occupiers
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Significant impact of different building standard on indoor air quality and overheating in homes
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Design tools, models and recording of key stages of construction to support with Future Homes delivery
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A Homes User Guide to help people live in complex homes
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Understanding of heating and ventilation systems
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An assessment of the safety of Future Homes For Occupants
Project 80 has also been recognising nationally, winning in the Sustainability category at the 2022 Built Environment Awards, an annual ceremony promoting achievements in the sector and organised by the Chartered Association of Building Engineers.
Discover more
Interested in discovering how the Centre can help your organisation make its building solutions more cost-effective and sustainable?