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The Energy House

We visit the Energy House research facility in Salford and speak to Barratts and Bellway Homes about the new energy efficient homes they are building.

Shari Vahl visits the Energy House 2.0 research facility at The University of Salford where two of the biggest housebuilders in the UK- Barratts and Bellway have built two new houses inside an environmental chamber.

Bellway, Barratts and Saint Gobain (a leading building materials company) have built the two houses using new building materials and high spec insulation, but also have innovative technology inside - heat pumps, infra red heating, batteries, solar panels, even heating in the skirting boards. House builders are in a race against time to build new homes that meet strict energy efficiency rules that come into force in two years - known as the Future Homes Standard.

The houses will then be subjected to extreme heat of +40 and -20, as well as wind, rain and snow to see how effective they are at keeping us warm in cold weather, and also deal with extreme heat.

Shari looks around the two new houses with the housebuilders to find out what our new homes will look like in two years, and speaks to the academics at Energy House about the innovative research that happens there.

PRESENTER: SHARI VAHL
PRODUCER: LYDIA THOMAS

Available now

28 minutes

Broadcast

  • Thu 15 Dec 2022 12:04

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