Student-led Project

Solar Decathlon Dubai 2020

PAUL Heat Recovery Scotland is part of an exciting project together with Heriot-Watt University:

A new sustainable, modular and multi-climate zone dwelling is developed, which will be exhibited at the Solar Decathlon Middle East 2020 (‘SDME2020’), a global competition for students to design and build a full-size, fully-functioning solar powered house that showcases innovative thinking, research, design and manufacturing, particularly from Scotland. SDME2020 is integrated with the 2020 World Expo in Dubai, which is expected to attract an estimated 25 million people.

The project offers a unique opportunity to build effective connections between students and industry and helps to ensure that the work we do has a real impact, both inside and outside the curriculum. Heriot-Watt University’s project is being run by a multi-disciplinary student team, Team ESTEEM (an anagram of the six schools at Heriot-Watt University), using SDME2020 to develop their skills, knowledge and experience.

SDME2020 competition takes (hopefully) place between November and December 2020, with the 21 buildings being open to visit until April 2021. These will showcase cutting edge solar-powered homes from universities around the world. The theme of the Solar Decathlon is ‘Going Beyond Zero’. It is set out across ten individual competitions that will test all aspects of the homes, and a key part of the project involves ensuring that the houses perform as they are predicted to.

As Gold Sponsor and part of the advisory team, we here at PAUL are actively involved in the project development and material supply. We take pride that we can passes on valuable knowledge and experience to our next generation architects and designers.

The Zehnder ComfoAir Q350 Enthalpy MVHR system with ComfoPost heating and cooling is an integral part of the success of this project, delivering a comfortable and healthy indoor climate in the severe climate of Dubai.

With the help of industry partners we are building a full-sized prototype of the house on site at Heriot Watt University’s Edinburgh campus in Spring 2020. This will become our ‘Showhome’ and a ‘test-bed’ for students, There will be significant social media, mainstream media and web coverage of the various products and innovations being tested.
At the end of summer 2020 we will ship an adapted version of the original prototype to Dubai for the Solar Decathlon project and World Expo. The Dubai house has a 14-day construction period in November 2020, so prefabrication and quick, high quality construction is essential!

Watch this project kick off at Heriot Watt University.

Please note that the wind tower for ventilation purposes was since taken out of the building envelope and replaced by an MVHR system to create a more effective climate strategy.

+++ Update from September 2021 +++

The prototype construction phase is over, which means the ESTEEM house is on the way to Dubai. The ship image below is currently carrying our 5 containers. It arrived in London Gateway on September 10^th, 2021, and then all containers got transferred to the NAGOYA EXPRESS, which leave for Dubai on Sunday 12^th, of September, 2021.  Alex MacLaren; faculty leader, mentioned “This sort of experience is transformative. The excitement of playing an instrumental part in a project of this size whilst studying for a degree will stay with these students forever; and inform their ambition and confidence in their future careers. I have been delighted by the support afforded us by the university and am excited to develop other experiences like this in future years: as a learning experience, but also as an urgent mandate to transform the ‘norm’ in our construction practices. So, who knows- next stop, Solar Decathlon Europe in 2023?”

Sustainability is essential to the future comfort of people on this planet. We’re glad to have been able to work with our partners, university and course leaders to develop, innovate, and now can share that on a global stage. We have been working on the project for over 2 and a half and with the competition starting in less than a month. We are getting the team ready and trained to showcase the innovative ideas and technologies our ESTEEM house has.

Jessica Haskett, Construction Manager, “This prototype experience has been the culmination of over 2 years of collaborative design work.  The interdisciplinary working has allowed me to share thoughts and challenges with students that study a variety of subjects and, together, engineer some of the best solutions. Being hands-on with construction work is a professional opportunity – I have placed some knowledge given through academia into practicality, in a way that my courses hadn’t done previously. Team ESTEEM has connected me with many industry professionals and offered an opportunity that I was not able to get due to my academic placement cancellation. Managing the team on site every day is a challenge but with the support of the student team, we have ensured that nothing is insurmountable, and we continue to celebrate our pride in the project every day”

Feedback from Dubai: “The SDME competition officially ended on Wednesday, the 24th of November 2021 (the house is still open for exhibition until the 11th of December). I would like to express my genuine gratitude for all the support that we were provided with at every stage, from the design to the commissioning of the ventilation system. The team truly appreciates your prompt responses, feedback, and willingness to get on calls scheduled quite suddenly, especially over the past couple of weeks, and apologize for any inconveniences it may have caused. To update you on our current situation, the ventilation system was successfully completed and activated…. The ventilation system is doing its thing very quietly now.”