Featured Research Projects

Key to the successful transition to low carbon homes is the way we educate and encourage the home occupier to use their homes efficiently.

The Centre  for Future Homes Team is carrying out research and will make use of the new mobile application specifically designed to deliver smart nudging interventions to householders in a timely manner to help them make informed decisions about their electricity consumption behaviours, reduce their electricity consumption, and improve their health by reducing indoor air pollution as a novel holistic approach. The targeted activities are monitoring indoor temperature, monitoring CO emissions, monitoring PM2.5 emissions, and monitoring relative humidity using sensors.

This research (a single holistic case study in Project 80) will be conducted in three periods, namely the baseline period, intervention period, and post-intervention period. During the baseline period, data collection and analysis will be conducted to identify the existing behaviours of households as the foundational step. Subsequently, during the intervention period, deployment of the smart nudging interventions will take place using the mobile app.

During the post-intervention period, a post-intervention assessment will be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the implemented interventions. This phase will involve comparative analysis against baseline data, assessing changes in energy consumption behaviours and indoor pollutant levels. Furthermore, interviews will be conducted with the participants to validate the findings. Finally, this research will propose an integrated smart nudge framework to facilitate the reduction of anthropogenic air emissions through changing human behaviours in household energy consumption and improving health.

This research (a single holistic case study in Project 80) will be conducted in three periods, namely the baseline period, intervention period and post-intervention period. During the baseline period, data collection and analysis will be conducted to identify the existing behaviours of households as the foundational step. Subsequently, during the intervention period, deployment of the smart nudging interventions will take place using the mobile app.

During the post-intervention period, a post-intervention assessment will be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the implemented interventions. This phase will involve comparative analysis against baseline data, assessing changes in energy consumption behaviours and indoor pollutant levels. Furthermore, interviews will be conducted with the participants to validate the findings. Finally, this research will propose an integrated smart nudge framework to facilitate the reduction of anthropogenic air emissions through changing human behaviours in household energy consumption and improving health.  

The Centre for Future Homes is working with home builders, manufacturers, and builders merchants to part fund Action PhD Research into the reduction of single-life plastics and embodied carbon.

Plastic items can take up to 1,000 years to degrade in landfills, but the material’s reputation has disintegrated a lot faster. Heightened awareness of its effects on the environment has prompted businesses and individuals to reassess their relationship with plastic.

As a major consumer of single-use plastic, the construction industry could help to drastically reduce waste by using less and reusing more in the form of recycled materials. The most common plastics used in construction are polyvinyl chloride (PVC), high density polyethylene (HDPE), and expanded polystyrene (EPS). Plastic is used for various applications such as seals, windows and doors, pipes, cables, floor coverings, and insulation.

The industry also traditionally uses plastic films for packaging. Where facilities exist and the systems to manage recycling are in place, packaging can be bundled up and incinerated in energy-from-waste plants.

The work will include conducting minimum viable trials to understand how potential solutions work throughout the journey from manufacture to merchant to site.

BCU has invested in a PhD research To Understand the real-world performance of air-to-water heat pumps (AWHP) and determine the optimal size of domestic hot water cylinders (DHWC) to enhance the experience of the end users.

 

The aim is to assess the real-world performance of air-to-water heat pumps (AWHP) integrated with domestic hot water cylinders (DHWC) in terms of coefficient of performance in practice (COPP) and energy savings potential under varying operation conditions.

 

The research will investigate the factors influencing the Coefficient of Performance in practice (COPP) of air-to-water heat pumps (AWHPs) considering variables such as seasonal weather conditions, home demography, user behaviour, and preference Conduct exploratory data analysis (EDA) using R packages including linear regression (LR) multiple linear regression (MLR), and generalised additive model (GAM), to identify trends, patterns, outliers, and correlations between COP values and factors like ambient temperature, building fabric, and user behaviour.

 

Supported by BCU and Barratt Homes, Taylor Wimpey and Redrow this research investigates the scalability of overheating mitigation measures in new build developments in the UK. Monitoring of different house types and overheating analysis were conducted. Simulation modelling showed that externally applied fabric solutions were more effective at reducing overheating risk against internal solutions. As well as effectiveness, four areas are shown to require addressing to evaluate solutions as scalable: home occupant perceptions, cost implications, supply chain resilience, and developmental procedures.

Research suggests that overheating design methods are not sufficient to pick up the extent of overheating in homes. Also, an investigation of the UK home development process revealed unawareness’s in all stages of the decision-making process, that need to be addressed to mitigate against overheating in homes.

Part L 2021 sees the introduction of photographs as part of reporting evidence for compliance criteria. These photos have to be taken at different key stages during the construction process. They need to be digital and of sufficient quality and high enough resolution to allow a qualitative audit of the subject detail. The BREL report needs then to be signed by the assessor and the client to demonstrate compliance against the design criteria. Photos taken will also need to be made available to Building Control and the homeowner.

 

This constitutes a significant change to current practice in Part L1 for new build homes. In fact, regulations are catching up with what is already common practice for existing homes or other requirements. Photos are already taken to demonstrate work carried out on fire stops, cavity barriers, and other items.

 

Government guidance on the subject is minimal as yet and the list of questions could be easily extended. Collaboration between different stakeholders is essential to ensure that at the end of the process the EPC can be delivered for plot handovers.

 

For that reason, we have been on site with a Top 5 housebuilder, an SAP software provider, and another Sustainability Consultants to look together at the practicalities of taking photos on selected trial sites. We have and will further engage with relevant stakeholders to better understand the technical difficulties that will need to be overcome.

Ecrofit is an award-winning initiative to provide technical assistance and training for businesses who provide construction, installation and building services linked to energy efficiency.

 

It was delivered by Birmingham City University together with the Awarding Body for the Built Environment (ABBE) and ran until 30th June 2023.

 

As part of the Ecrofit programme, we developed a brand new software solution called iRet to assist property, energy and retrofit professionals. The iRet solution offers an easy to use, highly visual interface to create fast and accurate energy assessments. It applies multi-objective optimisation techniques to compare a range of options for holistic retrofit measures and variations in product specifications.

Retrofit is the common name the process of upgrading and improving existing buildings and structures to make them more energy-efficient, environmentally sustainable, and technologically advanced. This involves the installation of modern technologies, such as improved insulation, energy-efficient heating and ventilation, and renewable energy sources. All of this is done to reduce energy consumption, lower carbon emissions, and enhance the overall performance and comfort of the building.

As the UK strives to meet its ambitious climate goals, retrofitting is a key solution. By upgrading existing structures with modern energy-saving technologies, we can significantly reduce carbon emissions, contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gases and our overall environmental footprint.

The UK has pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, and improving our buildings plays a pivotal role in reaching this target.

The Centre for Future Homes researchers believes that it is critical to fully engage with and put the home occupier at the heart of the journey. This should involve a holistic and proportionate approach which seeks to modernise and improve the comfort, lived experience and running costs rather than simply addressing the climate change related interventions. Spending more on home renovation than the real market value is not proportionate, and therefore we will often be in the realms of mitigation  rather than complete solutions.

The Centre for Future Homes in partnership with Local Authorities, Registered Providers and other Universities is working to address a range of barriers and opportunities to the roll out at scale of the right measures to improve 26 million homes and other buildings, which is critical if the UK is to meet its legally binding climate change targets.

This is a complex challenge and research areas will include Finance, Independent Advice, Occupier and trade behaviours, site surveys, skills appropriate interventions, measurement of outcomes and identifying ways to drive positive outcomes.

Supported by BCU and Barratt Homes, Taylor Wimpey and Redrow this research investigates the scalability of overheating mitigation measures in new build developments in the UK. Monitoring of different house types and overheating analysis were conducted. Simulation modelling showed that externally applied fabric solutions were more effective at reducing overheating risk against internal solutions. As well as effectiveness, four areas are shown to require addressing to evaluate solutions as scalable: home occupant perceptions, cost implications, supply chain resilience, and developmental procedures.