Scottish Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead has opened the Resource Efficient House in BRE Innovation Park at Ravenscraig.
The house has been designed to be an attractive proposition for housebuilders and planners by being energy efficient and using innovative building methods and materials.
It aims to show that sustainability in construction doesn’t mean it’s more expensive to build this way and offers the potential to generate new jobs and investment in Scotland.
Every stage of the development of the three-bedroom house has been considered from architecture to eventual deconstruction in three years time.
The construction materials and methods used harnessed best practice in efficiency from using a pod design put together off site in order to reduce the effects of weather conditions on build times, to the wall insulation which will be able to be recycled post deconstruction.
The re-use and recycling of materials carries through to the fixtures and fittings with the kitchen work surfaces made from material reprocessed from recycled coffee cups, recycled paint for the décor and kitchen bar stools made from reclaimed wood from whisky barrels.
It also has efficient lighting, heating and water conversation making it more affordable to live in.
Resource Efficient House – Project Video from Zero Waste Scotland on Vimeo.
The house is one of the first projects to be delivered by the Scottish Government’s Resource Efficient Scotland programme managed by Zero Waste Scotland. It was built in partnership with consortium Tigh Grian (JR Partners, nühaus, Machin Associates and Zeno Karl Schindler Foundation).
Richard Lochhead (pictured in the house with Zero Waste Scotland’s Iain Gulland) said: “This house aims to be the most resource efficient in Scotland and is a great example of resource efficiency in action: showing how businesses and households can benefit when we think carefully about how we use energy, water and materials.
“If every house in Scotland was like this then we would cut the amount of construction waste being sent to landfill and help make Scotland a more resource efficient nation.
“Future housing built under these methods offers the opportunity to benefit the economy as well as the environment, with the potential for new jobs and new products.”
In 2012, 17,112 new homes were built in Scotland with an estimated 85,560 tonnes of construction waste going to landfill. Had no waste been sent to landfill, the financial savings would have totalled over £4 million.
The Resource Efficient House produced less than five tonnes of construction waste, with less than one tonne going to landfill, compared to 13 tonnes of construction waste for an average three-bedroom new build house.
