At SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Centre we are developing a new concept for buildings of the future – buildings that generate, store and release their own energy. We built the Active Classroom to demonstrate all the latest renewable energy technologies being developed at SPECIFIC and by collaborative companies. It will be used to further our research; evaluate different technologies and materials; and to help us engage with innovative companies within the construction industry, who are interested in improving the performance of our future building stock.
In our endeavours to change the way we design, construct and use buildings, to create healthy, energy efficient buildings of the future, we have identified the importance of demonstrating new technologies and construction techniques on buildings in use. We are developing new methods of generating, storing and using energy within buildings and new energy models for how buildings can be used to help balance our existing energy grid network. We need to gather vital research data from buildings in use in order to determine how well systems are performing, and how people use and interact with buildings. The Active Classroom will enable us to do this.
This building plays an important role in helping to change the way energy efficient buildings of the future are designed, constructed and used, and enables the buildings as power stations concept and the new products involved to be proved before they can be widely adopted by the construction industry.
