Barratt unveil eco-home
Barratt Developments has unveiled what it calls the first zero-carbon house developed by a volume housebuilder.
Barratt's Green House, which has been built at the Buildings Research Establishment in Watford, is packed with the latest technology, including solar panels, rainwater harvesting and an air source heat pump.
Its new kind of concrete walls and floors, combined with super insulation and triple-glazed windows, means its heat requirement will be minimal as it is airtight. Fresh air is brought into the building through a heat exchanger, which extracts the heat from outgoing stale air and puts it back into the house.
Housebuilders will be forced by government legislation to build only zero-carbon houses from 2016 onwards but, given the long lead times in the industry, they are already trying to meet that target.
Mark Clare, chief executive of Barratt, said it would not be easy to reduce the cost of the prototype to commercial levels but he was confident it could be done. The important thing, he added, was to build houses that people would buy.
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