‘Buildings as power stations’ has £1 bn industry potential

An EPSRC-funded Innovation and Knowledge Centre, that turns buildings into 'power stations' capable of generating, storing and releasing their own energy, has the potential to develop into a £1 billion UK industry.

Representing a major shift in energy generation for the built environment, it is forecast to deliver huge economic benefits, including up to 10,000 new jobs in the supply chain, anchoring advanced manufacturing in the UK and providing global export opportunities.

Business Secretary, Vince Cable, and Wales first minister Carwyn Jones helped to bring this vision a step closer last week when they visited the new pilot manufacturing facility to start-up the sheet production line that will turn out functional, conductive steel and glass building products on a pilot scale - integrated into the fabric of roofs, walls and ceilings of new and existing buildings.

The products will later be taken up by industrial partners for large-scale production.

Cable said, ''The government's £10-million backing of the SPECIFIC project shows what can be achieved when world class university research comes together with the private sector.

SPECIFIC, short for Sustainable Product Engineering Centre for Innovative Functional Coatings, led by Swansea University with Tata Steel as the main industrial partner, aims to develop functional coated steel and glass products that will transform the roofs and walls of buildings into surfaces that will generate, store and release energy.