Countdown to a House for the Future

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A £1.2 million initiative to develop the house of the future has been launched here at Sussex by a team from the Science and Technology Policy Research Unit (SPRU). Led by Professor David Gann and managed by Dr James Barlow, the team is aiming to revolutionise the British housing sector.

Driven by an emphasis on changing user needs, the project will analyse social, demographic and economic trends and use in-depth user surveys to gain a better idea of what people really want from their home.

According to David Gann, British housing is desperately in need of modernisation. "Industries in other countries like Sweden, the Netherlands and Japan are light years ahead of us," he claims. He believes houses should be built with the needs of the people who will live in them in mind, but unfortunately this is seldom the case, "At the moment, houses are built for Mr Average - and I mean Mr. They are built for men of average height, average age, average mobility, average income. We need to make houses for the people who live in them, and in reality no-one is 'average'.

"Needs are changing - more people live alone, there are more elderly people in society, and people spend a lot more time at home. We need to make the home a multifunctional space where people can play, work and do all sorts of things, but houses are still the same old boring box with the same things inside."

Several radical proposals are being considered by the team. In a bid to improve efficiency, eliminate waste and above all improve the quality of the product, the team is intending to reduce the energy wasted in the supply chain it takes to build a house. The idea is to avoid on-site construction by manufacturing different parts of the house - such as the roof, or the cladding - away from the site, and then put it all together later.

The team propose an even more revolutionary system whereby people in the social housing sector own the interior of their house, while the social landlord owns the structure itself. According to James Barlow, "Hybrid houses have been very successful in the Netherlands, where the condition of public housing has improved greatly since tenants have had control over the interior of their property." Most sensibly of all, both owner-occupiers and social housing tenants should be able to choose certain things about the way their house is constructed.

People could pick out their bathroom and kitchen systems from a wide range. They will have better information about the ways their home will perform, controlling aspects such as heating, ventilation, acoustics and what sort of stairs to have. Aspects of the 'smart homes' technology would be available too, with the possibility of a link-up to new interactive service providers for entertainment, teleworking and shopping.

This level of choice is already well underway in Japan, where people can visit their home through virtual reality before it is built to make sure they are happy with their choices. Neighbours are encouraged to participate in the process so that conflicts can be eliminated - an idea which would be of great benefit in Britain where disputes between neighbours are reaching epidemic proportions. And Japanese housing companies guarantee their product for up to 30 years - something which David Gann and James Barlow will also be recommending.

The project will draw together academic experts from fields as diverse as technology, management and sociology, from Sussex and Cardiff Universities, and put them in partnership with industrial collaborators from both public and private housing companies and major housing suppliers.

Construction of the prototype houses will begin next year, as part of a two-phase plan. After the houses are built, they will be evaluated and then, according to David Gann, " We'll have the route map to deliver high quality, affordable, innovative housing produced by competent, profitable producers." The countdown to the millennium will also be a countdown to the house of the future - the house for a Mr and Ms Not-So-Average-After-All.

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