Notts landing

But that's the point. While this £250 000 project has been designed to test energy saving solutions, renewable energy sources, and sustainable construction techniques and materials, and evaluate their future usefulness, the only way to determine if these alternatives can successfully supplement or replace conventional techniques is to compare them in a real environment.

Research of these product types is far from new, but this time it is different. This time a property developer is involved. David Wilson Homes has joined forces with the University of Nottingham in the rolling research programme, which was officially launched on 30 March.

The initial partnering methods were slightly unorthodox – company chairman David Wilson was persuaded by the university's vice chancellor to donate to a sustainable construction research project after meeting at social events. "It started off that we were going to make a £500 donation," stated Wilson, "and ended up with us building a four-bedroomed, detached house." But he describes the company's involvement as "well worthwhile". Building work took around two years and the first inhabitants, a lecturer and two research assistants, moved in during December 2000.

The house is sited in the university's Park campus and is constructed to a standard David Wilson Homes design, with a few adjustments. The main building materials are brick and breeze block, but a steel frame has been added on the south, and partial east and west elevations. There is also a glazed, chimney-like structure on the south-facing side, inlaid with glass blocks and the whole structure is topped by a conical WindCatcher ventilation unit.

The steel frame is not seen by the developer as a likely standard feature on its future homes; this was requested by the university specifically for the project and serves two purposes. First, as a mounting for the technologies under test, such as the solar water collector currently attached and, second, as a temporary wall frame. The concept of the latter is that new building materials and cladding can be attached, creating a second building skin: the changes in energy use in the house can then be analysed to determine the effectiveness of the product. It is hoped that alternative construction methods can also be tested in this area.

Further opportunity to test materials is provided by the 'solar chimney'. The internal glass block panel is designed to be easily removed for replacement with the materials to be tested.

The house is littered with sustainable energy products. These range from a rainwater collection and filtration system which is being tested for approval to supply drinking water; to a heat pump that uses a system of coiled pipes buried in a trench around the house to extract heat from the ground to feed radiators.

Some of the products used should already be familiar to many contractors, such as the solar collectors and the SunPipe, which here is fed through a cupboard to provide a downstairs toilet with its only natural light.

This familiarity is also a deliberate ploy: the research team want to test and prove the effectiveness of available products before those under development. On this one-off building, the bulk of the work was carried out by David Wilson Homes' standard contractors. Some areas though were carried out by specialists; for example, Solar century completed what is the one of the first UK installations of Atlantis Sunslates.

With the property market now showing such close involvement in sustainable issues, the research results will surely help determine how homes may be built in the not-too-distant future. Opening the door well and truly for any far-sighted contractor that gains the knowledge and training needed to install such products.