SmartLIFE supports the development of sustainable communities, which deliver a high quality of life to growth regions, through partnership and innovations in construction and the delivery of training. SmartLIFE is a partnership between three EU Regions - UK, Germany and Sweden - delivering solutions to some of the common problems faced in European growth areas.

• EU-funded project with partners in Malmo & Hamburg
• Focus on modern methods of construction (MMC)
• Work packages include
  • Training Centre
  • Housing/manufacturing capacity
    Affordable housing, aiming at minimum Eco-Homes ‘very good’ standard
  • Planning, policy & practice

An innovative pilot project led by Cambridgeshire County Council, SmartLIFE’s partners are in the cities of Hamburg (Germany) and Malmö (Sweden). Each city faces very similar growth related challenges. The project’s main aims address three challenges of housing delivery in growth areas:

• Affordability
• Sustainability/energy efficiency
• Skills/capacity shortages in the construction industry

At the centre of the SmartLIFE project will be three business and training centres. Developed (built and refurbished) using various methods they will be designed to teach and promote. These centres will become the focal point of the project in each country. The Centres will also be show cases for MMC and sustainability and will help raise awareness and acceptance of MMC by promoting key messages of MMC such as speed of delivery.

Training of students in Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and sustainable construction will take place in specifically designed areas of each centre. Classrooms will be available, but the bulk of student’s time will be spent working on full size or to scale houses, applying their newly learned trade skills to actual MMC dwellings. The UK will be constructing a business and training centre from scratch whilst Germany and Sweden are refurbishing existing buildings. In all cases however, sustainability will be given paramount importance in both the design and building/refurbishing stages. And once the buildings are ready for use, sustainability will continue to feature heavily in the SmartLIFE agenda.

SmartLIFE is sharing its developing knowledge and experience about the supply chain issues around modern methods of construction, education and training capacity. At the forefront is the need for new construction waste management thinking, facilities and mechanisms are being pursued through SmartLIFE and others within the initiative.

SmartLIFE seeks a holistic supply chain solution to environmental construction.

Building Description
The design of the centre incorporates many of the modern methods it hopes to promote.

The building can be split in to 3 sections:


• The Practical Training Centre:
  The Practical space, within which the students will construct two-storey houses using MMC techniques is covered with a large fabric roof manufactured from a recyclable PVC. Of its type it is the largest in Country. It is supported by four large steel masts; one at each corner and covers an area approx 24mx24m. The walls are extend up to 12m high and constructed from a FSC certified timber frame using 356 deep engineered timber studs up to 12m long. The walls are clad with aluminium sheets which is preferred to steel on environmental and sustainability grounds. Windows and doors are made from FSC accredited timber.
  
  
• The visitor centre, conference room and office space:
  These sections were constructed with a laminated Glulam timber frame supporting timber based external floors, external walls and roofs. The pre-finished pitched roofing panels are from Milbank. They are 8m long structurally insulated panels (SIP’s) spanning across the Glulam frame. The pitched roofing insulation is CFC free polyurethane foam. It has been finished off with aluminium sheeting.
  
  The majority of the external wall finishes are untreated Western Red Ceder cladding from FSC certified sources. The 150mm thick insulation for these external walls is warmcel recycled newsprint (cellulose insulation), which was sprayed in to the walls. Windows and doors are made from FSC accredited timber.
  
  
• The Classroom block and student areas:
  This was constructed with pre-fabricated structural wall, floor and roof panels made from solid laminated timber panels (Lenotech system). They arrived on site as complete walls, floor and roof sections.
  
  These areas require no insulation and are clad in a light-weight mineral spun fibre wall panel. Windows and doors are made from FSC accredited timber.