Completion of the Creative Energy Homes

It has taken time and effort, but the Creative Energy Homes are finally ready, with the completion in 2013 of the Nottingham H.O.U.S.E. and the Mark Group EcoHouse.

The Nottingham H.O.U.S.E (Home Optimising the Use of Solar Energy) is the result of academics, researchers and students from the various disciplines in the Department of Architecture and Built Environment collaborating with a select group of industrial sponsors and specialist consultants. It was designed to compete in the Solar Decathlon 2010 in Madrid, an international competition aiming to advance the knowledge of sustainable homes, and built twice (in Madrid and London) before finding its final home on Green Close. This full-scale family home was designed to some of the world’s most stringent design standards such as the German Passivhaus, the UK Code for Sustainable Homes (Level 6 Zero-carbon), the Lifetime Homes and Secured by Design. This is the first time all these codes have been combined within a house of this type. This massive challenge was met by our students who designed and built this home as part of their learning experience at Nottingham. The home embodies a clear, spatially concise and sustainably efficient design from concept to reality. It is designed to be affordable and meet the requirements of dense urban sustainable living.

The Mark Group EcoHouse is a four-bedroom detached property with three floors including a basement. It was designed by interdisciplinary members of the teaching staff and a construction workforce of undergraduate students studying architecture and building technology who gained valuable experience of construction practices whilst working on aspects of the build. Students and staff have undertaken a number of research studies associated with the construction of the home. In addition to Mark Group’s products installed (Solar PV, Solar Hot Water, Loft Insulation, External Wall Insulation, Timber/Steel frame Insulation and an Air Source Heat Pump) the house features several other complimentary products to create a concept house for energy efficient future living.

Now both houses have become part of the Creative Energy Homes Project for long-term monitoring and dissemination of their strategies and technologies. 

For more information visit: www.nottingham.ac.uk/creative-energy-homes and www.facebook.com/CreativeEnergyHomes