Sustainable home prototype unveiled after pioneering testing regime

A pioneering Manchester cleantech firm is launching its prototype flatpack home after undergoing tests at the University of Salford’s ground-breaking research facility.

The homes are built using sustainable and advanced materials.

Vector Homes is working with the university’s Energy House 2.0 testing facility to develop its new rapid-build housing system.

The prototype is a low carbon, one-bedroom bungalow measuring 40 sq metres which has been constructed using recycled materials, including steel and plastics, as well as advanced materials such as graphene.

Vector is designing affordable, energy efficient homes with features including low-embodied carbon materials, infra-red heating, solar cells, breathable mould-resistant plaster and render, as well as embedded technology to provide smart environmental controls that efficiently measure and control the temperature, humidity and air quality in each room.

Its homes are designed for rapid production and assembly. Vector is looking to mass manufacture homes in a range of shapes and sizes which are sold as flatpacks to be built by a small team of people.

By incorporating graphene into the structures, the panels used in the construction of a Vector home have improved tensile strength, a greatly reduced flame spread and increased UV resistance.

Vector has worked with the University of Manchester’s Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre to develop ways of incorporating the material into its housing systems.

The firm is using the unique features of Energy House 2.0 to test the prototype’s thermal properties and its efficiency in different climates.

Energy House 2.0 can recreate temperatures from -20C to 40C, representing 95% of the inhabited earth, as well as recreating snow, wind, rain and solar energy to put the Vector home through its paces.

Launched earlier this year, the £16m Energy House 2.0, at the heart of the University of Salford’s Peel Park Campus, is globally unique and is helping to drive innovation in the housing sector already, through work with housebuilders Barratt and Bellway, and manufacturer Saint Gobain.

Vector, which is led by chief executive Nathan Feddy and chief technical officer Dr Liam Britnell, has so far received backing from SFC Capital, GC Angels, the Greater Manchester Investment Fund, which is the investment arm of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Innovate UK, the European Regional Development Fund and social housing investment firm HSPG.

Liam said: “Our mission is to cut carbon and costs in construction and our homes are designed to have 80% fewer carbon emissions in the building process compared to a standard brick house.

“They are also designed to be dismantled rather than demolished at the end of life, with the components finding a second or even third life elsewhere.”

He added: “The opportunity to work with Energy House 2.0 has been a dream come true. It’s a one-of-a-kind facility which enables testing for new types of construction methods.”

The Vector Homes prototype will be officially unveiled at an open day and housewarming event on September 21, which is being hosted in conjunction with specialist finance firm Together, for housing associations, local authorities, private developers, housebuilders and investors.

Prof Will Swan, director of Energy House Labs, said: “This type of project is exactly what our unique Energy House 2.0 facility was built for. Vector Homes is an ambitious, innovative North West company and if we can help them to develop a new product which can provide cheap, safe and, most importantly, warm housing, then there will be huge benefits.”