At Athena, we’re proud to stand at the forefront of homebuilding in the UK. We work with some of the most established and most interesting homebuilders around, supplying stunning kitchen worktops that offer the ideal finishing touch to their projects.
Our extensive range of surfaces makes us the ideal partner for developers. From established branded quartz, natural granite and sintered stone worktops to our exclusive Forza quartz range, our surfaces provide consistent quality delivered to tight deadlines, all templated and installed by our expert team.
Recently, we partnered with Bellway, one of the UK’s largest house builders, to supply worktops for ‘The Future Home’. The project is known as Energy House 2.0 and it’s something we’re excited to have been a small part of, so we wanted to take the time to tell you a little more about it.
What is Energy House 2.0?
Energy House 2.0 is a collaborative project between partners including the University of Salford, Bellway Homes, Barratt Developments, Muse Developments, and Saint-Gobain.
Together they aim to drive innovation and solutions to address global and domestic energy efficiency challenges. Energy House 2.0 is a unique £16 million research facility, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), enabling SMEs to innovate and develop low carbon technologies for the built environment.
Energy House 2.0 features two environmental chambers which each accommodate a typical detached home, one of which – ‘The Future Home @ The University of Salford’ – has been built by Bellway. The chambers allow researchers to test building materials while simulating real weather conditions, such as rain, snow, wind and solar radiation, all between -20 and 40 degrees Celsius.
The real-world environment at Energy House 2.0 allows researchers at the facility to test and evaluate housing design and home heating with climate change in mind. Ultimately, the experiment aims to influence how we build and use our homes in the face of a rising carbon footprint for the UK housebuilding industry. Data collected throughout the duration of the Energy House 2.0 project will enable homebuilders to find the most efficient ways new homes can be built and operated.
Bellway will be testing innovations in homebuilding throughout the project at The Future Home. The experiment will see researchers analyse the effects of double and triple glazing, storing solar energy, heat recovery from wastewater, and the efficient use of air-source heat pumps. They’re also interested in finding the most cost-efficient ways that their customers can reduce their energy bills, something particularly timely as energy costs continue to rise significantly.
What we did
As part of the Energy House 2.0 project, Bellway is standing at the forefront of change in the UK homebuilding industry, and we’re proud to be their chosen partner for surfaces.
Bellway built their ‘Coppersmith’ house for the project, a three-bedroom home with an open plan kitchen area. For the kitchen, we provided and installed a luxurious surface from our extensive range – 20mm Dekton Keyla by Cosentino. With a sleek and durable finish, the worksurface offers the perfect finishing touch for The Future Home.
Why housebuilders choose Athena
A choice of market-leading materials including premium brands as well as our exclusive Forza range.
Fast UK-wide installation, with a standard 5 working days from template to install.
In-house worktop fabricators and installers to ensure consistent quality.
Unbeatable prices, thanks to our infrastructure, in-house fabrication and purchasing power. We always pass savings onto our customers.
We’re proud to always install on time and get it right first time.
We hope you enjoyed learning more about our work with Bellway on The Future Home @ University of Salford. You can find out more here. If you’re a homebuilder looking for quality surfaces for your next project, we’d love to help. Contact us to find out more.