Zero Bills Home is launched on BRE Innovation Park
Launching the Zero Bills Home at BRE Innovation Park
RIBA award winning zero carbon design and development pioneers ZEDfactory* have unveiled their innovative response to the housing crisis - the Zero Bills Home.
Zero Bills in a nutshell aims to make home energy bills obsolete. With a clever design that minimises energy requirements, the very low energy needs of the household are met by a roof-integrated PV and energy storage system which can also generate enough power to service a small electric vehicle.
The home is heated by a small air source heat pump that recycles heat recovered from stale air that’s been processed by a mechanical ventilation heat recovery system. With the average annual household spend on home energy exceeding £1300 and car fuel exceeding £1000, significant lifetime savings can be met for the Zero Bills householder.
Zero Bills comes as a kit of parts – a steel frame with timber wall panels the bulk of which is manufactured in the UK. The system is affordable at £1350 per square meter and quick and easy to build with.
Speaking at the launch Bill Dunster said ‘SME builders are key to delivering the 250,000 homes per annum we need across the UK – the Zero Bills system is an off the shelf solution for SMEs that could really drive the market in the right direction. With its integrated energy generation facility it shows how we could actually reduce the investment needed for centralised national infrastructure by becoming net exporters of renewable energy.’
Zero Bills is aiming to be one of the first homes assessed under BRE’s new Home Quality Mark which provides consumer-friendly, impartial information via a star ratings system on the quality and sustainability of new homes. It has already been commissioned for use on a development in Newport Essex for the Sir Arthur Ellis Trust (subject to planning permission).
BRE’s Chief Executive Peter Bonfield who opened the house today said ‘Zero Bills represents new thinking and a fresh approach to the significant challenges and opportunities we face in the housing market.’
Zero Bills is located on the world renowned BRE Innovation Park in Watford, a mini-demonstration community of homes and buildings of the future which has been visited by Prime Minister David Cameron, the Premier of China Li-Keqiang and HRH Prince Charles.
For further information and photographs please contact Linda McKeown, BRE, 01923 664569, email pressoffice@bregroup.com
NOTES TO EDITOR
BRE
We are a world leading building science centre and the authority on all aspects of the built environment. We generate new knowledge through research that is used to create products, tools and standards that drive positive change across the built environment. We enable our government and private sector clients to meet the environmental, social and economic challenges they face by delivering higher performing, better quality, safer, more secure and more sustainable products homes, buildings and communities. We are owned by the BRE Trust, a registered charity, which funds research and education that advances knowledge of the built environment. We are committed to building a better world together. We are BRE. www.bre.co.uk
*ZEDfactory and the Zero Bills Home team
Bill Dunster – architect
Lalit Chauhan – construction
Rehan Khodabuccus – zero bills research
David Burdett Brown – finance
Tianran Dong – architect
Taus Larsen – architect
Roberto Rocco – architecture and masterplanning
Wendy Leung – architect
Fiona Quin – graphics
Andy Von Bradsky – strategy
Nigel Ingrams – development
Tianran Dong – investor
Francis Sakora – business development
Martin Milner – structural engineering
Colin Challenger – legal structures
ZEDfactory are the architects of BedZED, the UK’s first and largest Zero Energy Development. The mixed-use development was awarded the RIBA Sustainability Award 2003 and shortlisted for the Stirling Prize 2003 www.zedfactory.com