BRE to administer competition to find new sustainable house designs which address ageing society

The government has launched a competition to for architects and housing providers to design homes of the future fit to tackle the problems of clean growth and an ageing society.

The Homes of 2030 competition is a joint initiative between the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, The Department of Health and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, targeting two of the governments designated “grand challenges” – to halve energy use in buildings and allow people an extra five years of healthy independent life.

The competition to devise home plans that raise the quality of housing design is to be administered by the Building Research Establishment (BRE), RIBA Competitions, the Design Council and education charity MOBIE.

Modular housing

The competition will start with an Innovation Challenge, now open to entry, after which a Design and Delivery competition, which will see consortia assembled to produce and showcase the housing solutions prior to mainstream adoption.

The BRE said that competition designs will be evaluated against a range of criteria including scalability, sustainability, accessibility and durability, with affordability and health integration also key factors. Designs will also be expected to feature innovation and individual product and component level.

Alan Somerville, head of building performance group at BRE, said: “We need to ensure that homes can positively impact people’s lives and communities and adapt to changing needs resulting from developments such as an ageing society. Home of 2030 is an exciting opportunity to show how homes should be designed for the future.”

For more details of the competition, visit www.homeof2030.com

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