Project Etopia’s 108 sqm 3-bedroom house is a detached demonstration home unit, that comes in at around 50% less cost than a conventional home price – this is around £1,200 per sqm for a smart home, which compares with build costs of around £1,500 per sqm for basic traditional bricks and mortar construction.
All the exterior wall superstructure can be constructed in an on-site time of 20 hours (16 hours for walls, 4 hours for scaffolding) compared with as much as three weeks for a traditional home. The Etopia build system is also not weather dependent.
This new smart home features its own solar cladding in conjunction with Great British Voltaic (GBV), solar and tiles, triple glazing, as well as air-to-water heat pump with underfloor heating and MVHR.
It also incorporates E-Smart’s plug-and-play smart home system with Samsung smart appliances. This house was put on Isolated foundation system (Swedish) with Raft foundation reinforcement and concrete.
Key features of the Project Etopia home
The ground floor was manually assembled from the SIPS (structural insulated panels) wall panels onto Galvanised steel base plate fixed to foundation. Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) ring beam was installed to take the first floor joists with Half width SIPS infill fitted over the ring beam.
The Etopia build system uses panellised 4Wall system to provide an airtight superstructure, achieving an airtightness twice the standard of Passivhaus. The panelling system can support multiple floors and loads safely, while it can also withstand hurricane strength storms and winds. The heaviest panel weighs 97kg and each panel has a structural loading strength of 825kn or 80 tons.
• Etopia homes can produce more energy than they would use. Batteries, renewables, and energy-saving construction is the Etopia’s net zero combination.
• Etopia homes offer up to a 39% reduction in CO2 compared with traditional construction.
• On average 163 tons of carbon are saved over 25 years on a single Etopia home, compared to a traditional home.
• An Etopia home has an EPC rating average of 105/100(A).
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