AIMC4 partners

The Barratt Green House was the first home built on BRE's Innovation Park. It was built to Code Level 6 standards, using aircrete from H+H UK.

Crest Nicholson's Avante homes have been given an 'Excellent' rating by the EcoHomes independent system of rating.

Stuart Milne's Sigma House at BRE's Innovation Park addresses the need for energy efficient homes at high density.

The innovative full storey height Vertical Elements produced from H+H Aircrete made up the fabric of the Barratt Green House.

Oxford Brookes University has carried out the widely published post-occupancy evaluations including the Sigma Home at the BRE Innovation Park.

We work across multiple sectors, building residential homes for consumers and commercial builds for a range of customers, including government bodies, local councils, private and public commercial organisations.
 
Our involvement as a strategic partner in the AIMC4 project provides a catalyst for strategic change, fostering collaborative working within our industry and piloting new ways of working that will bring benefits to the sector going forward.

With a tangible outcome at the end of the project, we will have the ability to unlock business opportunities, develop more rounded and balanced solutions, differentiate our product and re-engineer our supply chain, which in turn will yield advantages and commercial return.

As leaders in innovation and with our Sigma home research as a foundation, we believe we can contribute significantly to the project through shared knowledge that will provide a major step change to mass market low carbon homes in the future.
 
We believe that the fabric-first approach is one that offers the most attractive benefits for consumers and developers and we are keen to utilise the extensive knowledge we have to further research and development in this area. Through strong networks and new relationships our collaborative working will add value and bring scale that may not be possible individually.

Find out more at http://www.stewartmilne.com/

Our mission is to improve the quality of life for individuals and communities, both now and in the future, by providing better homes, work places, retail and leisure spaces. Most importantly, we place our customers at the heart of everything we do.

In today’s low carbon world, it is our unrivalled vision and values in design, customer service, innovation and environmental stewardship that set us apart. Crest Nicholson has a strong track record of delivering innovative & sustainable solutions utilizing leading edge products and construction methodologies.  In the last financial year to end-October 2009 over half of the homes delivered by Crest were either Eco-Homes or Code to Sustainable Homes level 3 certified, and 86% were constructed on brownfield sites.
 
Responding to the challenges posed by climate change and urban renewal forms an integral part of our approach. However we recognise that this cannot be done in isolation. AIMC4 provides a unique collaborative platform within which we can share our experience with partners,  learn together, push boundaries and demonstrate our thirst to deliver innovative design led solutions as we strive to drive down carbon emissions and ultimately meet the needs of our customers.

Find out more at http://www.crestnicholson.com/

Barratt Group is expected to build 11,500 homes in the current financial year, making us the biggest housebuilder by volume in Britain. We were the only major housebuilder to be given a maximum five star rating – our highest ever score – in 2010’s HBF Customer Satisfaction Survey.

In 2009 our site managers won the highest number of NHBC Pride in the Job Quality Awards for a record fifth consecutive year. We are also one of Britain's foremost sustainable housebuilders.
 
We have now started on site at the Hanham Hall development near Bristol which will be the first Code for Sustainable Homes Level 6 community in the UK when it is completed in 2011.

We are delighted to be part of the AIMC4 project, which we believe has an important role to play in enabling the housebuilding industry to build greener homes at less cost in the years ahead.

Find out more at http://www.barratthomes.co.uk/

With extensive knowledge of the building industry and manufacturing technology, our strong bias towards R&D is reflected in its UKAS accredited laboratory.

Innovative solutions for the home building market include successes such as construction of the Barratt Green House on the BRE Innovation Park and more recently a Code 6 House in Basingstoke.

Our personnel have specific expertise in Aircrete manufacture, energy and carbon calculations, acoustic and air tightness testing, structural engineering and general building physics.

We are also directly involved in NHBC Council and Standards; British and European Standards bodies; and also with the Industry Advisory Groups dealing with the new amendments to Part L of the Building Regulations for England and Wales.

AIMC4 is therefore of particular interest and we will use our technical expertise to work with industry partners to resolve issues to build Code Level 4 homes without the use of renewable technologies.

Find out more at http://www.hhcelcon.co.uk/home

It will undoubtedly pave the way for huge changes in the future delivery of low carbon sustainable, affordable homes in the UK. This is hugely important because the homes we live in are currently the major single source of carbon emissions – to meet our 2050 CO2 reduction target of 80% we have to build homes that are not dependant on fossil fuel for energy generation.

As well as the environmental benefits this project will bring it also has huge significance to potential homeowners who are currently crippled by huge energy costs that show no signs of abating.

This is why the outcomes and learning that  AIMC4 delivers will be eagerly awaited not only at home but by our colleagues across the globe who are faced with the same issues in housing provision.

Find out more at http://www.bre.co.uk/

The University tackles issues on a global, national and local scale and with governments around the world committed to reducing carbon emissions, and the bulk of those emissions coming from housing, Brookes is researching ways of helping them hit ambitious targets.

The AIMC4 project is of crucial importance for understanding how innovative low-carbon housing performs and how occupants behave in them.

Our role will examine the post-occupancy evaluation of buildings, being the only university in the UK that offers comprehensive education and research in this area.

Find out more at http://www.brookes.ac.uk/schools/be/oisd/act/architecture/