With a small solar PV array on the south facing roof, mechanical ventilation and heat recovery (MVHR) and an air source heat pump, all of which are monitored for performance. Alongside using materials and technologies that are available to the industry now, we are additionally testing novel technologies in systems integration, connectivity, and home care, to inform our socio-digital futures. The Smart House represents an opportunity to test these new technologies and materials alongside our existing models, and this will develop as we install a building management system and adapt the house for future research projects. Recently we have been developing a garden watering monitoring system with smart rainwater storage and watering driven by moisture content sensors and increasing the
overall building management system. This type of research has direct impact by feeding into larger projects such as Reclaim the Rain. We are constantly collecting baseline data at the Smart House from indoor environment and air quality sensors, embedded sensors in the building shell, and the exterior weather station. This has been collated into data packs to share with suppliers, researchers and students. Most recently data was presented to students at our annual environmental data hackathon, sponsored by BT and the IET, it focused on connected places smart and sustainable living. Students explored data, responded to business and community challenges, and presented solutions, developing understanding of the data, technical and soft skills.
Smart House gives us an opportunity to address material use in construction. This has led to a collaboration with Natural Building Systems (NBS), who have built a prototype garden room adjacent to the house, using their unique, climate-positive, biobased, modular construction system. This small prototype is being monitored by the university, alongside the Smart House, for fabric performance and is designed to be demountable; the panels can be adapted, reassembled, and reused, and is one of several ongoing research collaborations with NBS. The Smart House presents us with a wonderful opportunity to share our research and to collaborate with others. If you would like to discuss research ideas or enquire about the smart house and the work we are doing at the Suffolk Sustainability Institute please email ssi@uos.ac.uk
As well as exploring technology in daily life, the
P R O P E R T Y A N D CONSTRUCTION | SCRUTTON BLAND | 7
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