Manchester to create built environment innovation ecosystem

Greater Manchester universities have partnered with real estate industry players to create a built environment innovation ecosystem. The University of Manchester and the University of Salford will work with Barratt Developments, Bellway, the Energy Innovation Agency, Q-bot, RED Cooperative, RSK Environment and Saint-Gobain to deliver energy-efficient and sustainable new and existing homes across Greater Manchester. Running until March 2025, the partners will work with businesses across the region to help understand the energy efficiency of new products for the home and unintended consequences, such as noise or overheating. The £3.5m project, to be known as Future Homes, forms a part of the £100m national Innovation Accelerators programme, which is aimed at speeding up the growth of innovation clusters in Greater Manchester, Glasgow and the West Midlands through co-creation and regional partnerships. Will Swan, project lead and professor at the University of Salford, said: “Our homes account for around 20% of our total emissions and energy use so there are huge strides to be made. “The Future Homes project gives us an opportunity to understand how to deliver low-carbon and net zero new-build and retrofit using unique facilities, such as Energy House 2.0, as well as drawing on expertise from our industry partners and partners at the University of Manchester. “This is creating an opportunity for Greater Manchester to lead the way in understanding how to get our housing stock to net zero.” To send feedback, e-mail evelina.grecenko@eg.co.uk or tweet @Gre_Eve or @EGPropertyNews Photo by Mark Campbell/Shutterstock