SDS is honoured to have been invited to contribute to Barratt Developments’ unique Zero Carbon concept home, the first house in the UK designed to showcase an “A to Z” of modern green home developments.
SDS has installed a smart water tank at the Z-House, located at the University of Salford. We are one of 40 partners chosen to feature forward-looking sustainable technologies in the house, which is occupied and monitored to assess its performance.
Visionary Project
In this visionary project, Barratt, the UK’s largest housebuilder, is keen to show what can be achieved for every home, even on a mainstream, volume development. It’s clear that, in future, home buyers will simply expect to buy greener homes. Sustainable homes will also be more affordable and efficient to run.
So, we were particularly delighted that Barratt approached us to trial our digitally controlled and monitored water-saving technology. Rather than choosing a simple garden water butt, the Barratt team were keen to incorporate smart controls to a tank outside the property that collects water from the roof.
Intelligent System
The SDS Intellistorm® system turns the humble water butt into an intelligent storage device that can manage discharge to the drainage system, as well as saving water for reuse. At the Z-House, rainwater running off the roof is collected by the SDS system and used to irrigate a green wall. Excess rainwater is also stored in a reservoir, which can be used, for example, to water the garden or wash the car.
It’s admirable that a major housebuilder is taking the lead to deliver a level of carbon reduction that is considerably more than the Future Homes Standard. Barratt has announced that all its new homes will be zero carbon by 2030.
It’s particularly encouraging to see that Barratt not only recognises the value of water saving in its homes, but also in the unbreakable link with carbon reduction. We also hope that this will be the beginning of an exploration, not just by Barratt, but by the UK housebuilding sector overall, of the potential for smart water collection and reuse technologies in residential developments. Whether the systems are on a plot-level or shared by a street or a whole community, the principles of smart, dual-purpose water management help to protect against flooding as well as cut down on the use of mains water for non-drinking purposes.
A “knowledge and energy hub” in the garage of the Z-House showcases the new products for visitors. This includes the use of SDS “SYMBiotIC®” digital monitoring and control technology to demonstrate the real-time operation of the smart rainwater management system.
Barratt Developments deserves great credit for leading the charge with a truly visionary project that is pointing the way forward for all housebuilders to see what is not only possible but will rapidly become an expectation for every new home in the country.
