Construction:
"Building construction accounts for about 48% of CO2 emissions in UK with housing construction accounting for 32%. Embodied energy can account for 25% of energy used in the lifetime of the home."

"70 million tonnes of construction waste pa is generated in the UK, with about 10% of all materials wasted."

Communication / Intelligent systems:
"The home is becoming more than a place to live. It is now a place of work, entertainment and security".

INTEGER's expertise formed part of the winning submission for the Greenwich Millennium Village competition and more recently has been invited to demonstrate its achievements at the UK pavilion at Hanover Expo 2000.

In the UK Bree Day Partnership designed the first INTEGER dwellings for Westlea Housing Association in Cherhill, Wiltshire in 1999. Recently INTEGER have completed 15 homes for Sandwell Metropolitan Council and 12 two-bed apartments in Harlow and is currently designing an Integer pavilion for the Hong Kong government in association with local consultants. The INTEGER Maidenhead scheme has been specifically designed to include a full 'menu' of environmental facilities and incorporating intelligent features allowing the tenants to have full access to data facilities throughout their dwelling and client remote monitoring of domestic services, eg: gas meter reading etc. Apart from the demonstration BBC Dream House, this is the first INTEGER project that has incorporate Photo Voltaic Panels. The knowledge gained from the installation of renewable energy systems are fed back into the practice's knowledgebase for the benefit of further projects.

At the Integer Exhibition, hosted by the DETR in London on 8th January 2001, Mr. Nicholas Raynsford MP, the then Minister for Construction, said.

"The Integer programme of Research and Innovation fully accords with what we are all trying to achieve. The programme has taken house-design and construction back to first principles.

At each stage Integer have examined and challenged existing practices and have put people at the very heart of the process, to make a real difference to their lives. Integer have not only sought to reduce total energy consumption but have actively pursued the development of sustainable energy sources which will help the UK meet its obligations to reduce energy emissions.

It is very important that the Integer programme has sought to make the best possible use of new developments in IT and that by pre-wiring homes, are seeking to make the Internet more accessible to more people.

I am sure that in time this innovation will become standard practice, but it is to your credit that Integer have shown the lead.

I would also like to say how pleased I am that my Department has been able to help support the early development of the Integer programme through the Partners in Innovation collaborative research programme. It is most encouraging to see such visible and important output from our research programme."

Integer's understanding of the way the construction industry needs to adapt for it's own sustainability had been realised in the following projects:

• Advisors on the Greenwich Millennium Village winning bid, with Ralph Erskine as lead architect.
• The first Integer houses were at Cherhill, North Wiltshire, 2 semi-detached houses on the outskirts of a designated Area of Outstanding Beauty. Client: Westlea Housing Association

   

• 15 homes in Sandwell. Client: Sandwell Borough Council.
• The UK Pavilion at the Hanover Expo 2000. Client: Home Office
• 12 flats at Harlow
• 27 Houses and Flats at Alpine Close, Maidenhead

• Private house at Newbury
• INTEGER Millennium / BBC Dream House at the BRE, Garston