Here at Symphony, we pride ourselves on leading the way in design and manufacture innovation. We are also always ensuring that sustainability is at the forefront of everything we do. That’s why we were thrilled to work with Barratt Developments to create the first zero carbon home concept from a major housebuilder.
The Zed House
With carbon neutral homes being such a hot topic, with everything from the move to heat pumps to electric car charging at home, we were honoured to be invited to work with leading housebuilder Barratt Developments on its unique and flagship zero carbon home concept. The Zed House will be the first new home in the UK built by a major housebuilder to go beyond the new Future Homes Standard by delivering a carbon reduction of 125%. The Future Homes Standard ensures that all new homes built from 2025 will produce 75-80% less carbon emissions than homes under current regulations. The carbon reduction of 125% is from 100% regulated and 25% unregulated energy using heat recovery, low carbon and renewable technologies. The Zed House will be lived in and monitored over time in order to assess its performance on an ongoing everyday basis. We can’t wait to see the results.
The future of housebuilding
Designed and developed to show what is achievable for the housebuilding market in terms of sustainability, the Zed House is a great example of how our homes could look in the next few decades. At Symphony we have a constantly evolving list of eco credentials that we use in everything we do. How this project worked is that Barratt challenged its supply chain partners to bring in the most cutting-edge products to help reduce its carbon footprint. We chose our Urban kitchen in Grey Walnut, as the door and drawer fronts are made from 100% recycled chipboard and the handles contain renewable coconut fibre. Not only that but the cabinets are also made from 49% recycled board while cutlery trays and drawer storage are all Hemp and Kenaf based. We thought this was the perfect example of how kitchens can be a sustainable and environmentally friendly purchase without sacrificing style. The stainless-steel sink from Franke was chosen as it contains 80% recycled materials and was supplied with a waste disposal unit that processes organic waste to reduce the amount of food waste going to landfill. The Insinkerator 4 in 1 tap supplies filtered water to reduce the need to purchase bottled water and therefore encourages the reduction of single use plastic. It also replaces the need for a kettle by providing boiling water, which reduces both energy usage from boiling a kettle but also only provides the amount of boiling that is required. The appliances were also selected for their sustainability credentials including energy efficiency and minimising water use. The worksurface is a carbon neutral material from the Sunlit Days collection from Silestone by Cosentino, the first carbon neutral quartz range in the engineered stone industry that contains recycled glass and minerals.
Eco build
The Zed House itself is made from a closed panel timber frame with highly insulated cladding. It also includes EV charging points, PV solar panels and battery storage. The interior comes with infra-red electronic hands-free taps, reducing water consumption by up to 80%, and a smart electric tariff that automatically moves energy usage to access the cheapest rates.
EV charging point
With more and more people looking to swap their fuel-guzzling car to an efficient electric model, the Zed House also comes with its own EV charging point. The Zed House is located on the main campus at the University of Salford. It contains a knowledge hub built into the garage to display all the products, technologies and results of the home’s occupation on an ongoing basis. We are thrilled to have been a part of this exciting project and can’t wait to see what the future holds.
Further information
Head to https://www.barrattdevelopments.co.uk/showcase/z-house for more information on Barratt Homes and www.symphony-group.co.uk/sustainability for more information on Symphony’s sustainability credentials.
