'It’s a smart system that doesn’t require a tech-minded homeowner': Yorkshire housebuilder launches AI-powered eco homes
It was once defined by its coal industry, but now the village of Fishburn in County Durham is now helping to power the UK’s transition to net zero with help from a Yorkshire housebuilder.
Mallard Homes, headquartered in Boroughbridge, has completed the first of 13 energy-efficient homes at Hardwick Court in the former mining village.
The site, owned by Dutch property firm Ciconia Group, uses a self-learning energy management system, designed by technology firm Wondrwall, that reduces carbon emissions and maximises efficiency with minimal user input.
Mallard Homes has built each home with smart lighting, security, heating and energy controls, which are all managed through an app.
Every home has Amazon Alexa integrated throughout, while the system intelligently adapts to routines, such as adjusting heating levels based on room occupancy or when residents leave or return home.
“The key to it is the amount of sensors around the house and they’re built into a Wondrwall light switch in every room of the house that is sensing how the user lives in the house,” says Paul Heap, managing director of Mallard Homes,
"It’s a smart system that doesn’t require a technology-minded homeowner to use it. Once it’s set up, you can leave it alone and it will create the maximum efficiency for that homeowner.”
The homes generate and store their own clean energy, which can be used on demand or sold back to the grid during periods of high energy prices for greater financial benefit.
“If you have a single person living in a four bedroom house, the sensor system will understand and learn that three of the bedrooms aren’t being used and optimise the heating,” says Paul.
"The smart hot water cyclinder may have capacity for, say, 200 litres but it learns that if a single homeowner only uses 40 litres of hot water a day, that’s all it will heat. It draws efficiencies from different areas.”
Each EPC A-rated property comes equipped with solar PV, battery storage, and EV charging provided at no upfront cost to the homeowner.
Mallard says what makes this site unique is PowrPlan, a residential power purchase agreement that guarantees 20 years of low-cost, clean energy to the homeowners at Hardwick Court.
Rather than buying the technology outright, homeowners pay a monthly fixed-cost standing charge for the clean energy generated, which Paul says works out to be significantly less than typical utility rates and guaranteed to be lower than the energy savings delivered by the system.
The agreement also includes all ongoing maintenance and battery replacement after 10 years, protecting homeowners from any future retrofit or replacement costs.
"In the past, developers had to pay for the tech up front, which was passed on to the final buyer,” says Paul.
"We don’t have to pay for those hardware costs up front so, therefore, we don’t need to pass those costs on to the home buyer. Instead they pay a monthly fee to use the electric that is generated by that hardware.”
Located just two miles from Sedgefield and 20 minutes from Durham, the four-bedroom homes start from £335,950, with the entire site expected to complete by October 2025.
Paul says: “We are a small fish in a big pond so I want to create a Mallard house type that is different. It’s innovative and my personal belief is that sustainability has to be the way forward. I want to make a normal house highly sustainable. They can’t take any longer to build and they can’t be any more expensive.”
Although the first house is finished, it’s too early to say how it is performing from an energy efficiency point of view. However, Paul is so confident in the Wondrwall technology that he’s already lined up a 13-home site in Sheffield and a 15-home site in Chesterfield to roll it out further.
He believes that it could even be rolled out on a mass scale by larger housebuilders. “The technology is very straightforward. It’s not innovative to the point where the house buying public is going to say ‘we don’t like that’,” he says.
Daniel Burton, CEO of Wondrwall Group, adds: “Hardwick Court marks a major milestone in making intelligent, low-carbon living accessible to everyone - not just the few.i
"For the first time in the UK, homeowners can move into a property that comes fully equipped with the latest clean energy technology, without paying a premium. By combining intelligent energy generation and storage with zero upfront cost, we’re proving that sustainable living can be both desirable and affordable.”
An open day is being held at Hardwick Court today, July 26, between 10am and 3pm. Anthony Jones Properties, 01325 776424.