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£36mn funding boost for Swansea’s Active Building Centre

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The government is set to invest £36mn into a new ‘Active Building Centre’ (ABC) based at Swansea University, in a bid to accelerate the market adoption of solar-powered building design whilst tackling barriers faced by the industry.

Based at the university’s Swansea Bay campus, the proposed R&D centre will focus on developing new building materials and coatings that generate light and heat. 

The idea behind the project is to replace conventional walls, windows and doors with the power-generating materials, whose energy can be used to power homes, hospitals and schools, or be sold to the National Grid.

The funding was announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Phillip Hammond, on a visit to Swansea last week.

Hammond said: ‘This... new funding will support exciting green technology that could cut energy bills, reduce carbon emissions and create better homes and workspaces.'

The Secretary for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark, has also pledged his support for the programme, stating: ‘This £36mn investment in clean energy innovation shows the UK continues to lead the way in cutting emissions while growing our economy.’

The ABC is being funded by the UK government through the
Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and national funding agency UKRI, working with supply chains from energy and construction, supported by ten universities.

The Welsh government has pledged a further £6.5mn to support the project.

Together with its industry and research partners, the ABC programme will create the following:

  • a critical mass of Active Building demonstrations to showcase technologies and demonstrate scalability;
  • an evidence base for Active Buildings – including research to understand how occupants use and interact with Active Buildings as well as technical performance data;
  • technologies and toolkits for building designers and engineers to support the uptake of new building design;
  • and new business models – working with companies to develop models that will accelerate market scale-up and adoption.

The programme will also feature its own flagship building – a ‘living lab’ located next to Swansea Bay Campus – while a portfolio of 300 further buildings will be developed UK-wide in close collaboration with developers and supply chains, to address different market sector needs.

For more on the research see Energy World October.

Image: The Active Building Centre

Source: SPECIFIC

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