UK grid-powered smart electric homes to be installed on historic MG Rover site

St. Modwen, a developer of communities and homes, has announced plans to deliver up to 350 new all-electric homes powered by a smart grid to ensure each is completely gas-free. The homes will be built alongside the historic MG Rover site in Longbridge, which was once the home of MINI in Birmingham, Great Britain.

Electricity will be delivered and tracked through the smart grid for each home to ensure this first phase of buildings will be gas-free.

In 2021 planning was secured for the Longbridge site for a total of 350 new homes. Detailed planning for the first phase is currently under way by the local authority and new homes are expected to be built by St. Modwen Homes from Autumn 2022.

The site was made possible following a £20m ($24.3m) infrastructure investment in partnership with the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).

“By introducing carbon-negative homes and developments powered by smart grids … we are proving that greener homes can be delivered at commercial scale,” said Sarwjit Sambhi, CEO of St. Modwen.

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Longbridge has been regenerated with homes, shops, education and green spaces delivered to date. After completing the regeneration St. Modwen has announced further plans to create a total of 3,000 new homes, 2 million sq ft of retail space and up to 10,000 jobs in Longbridge.

The project is believed to be the first to be used by a major developer, and the smart grid design is being developed alongside SNRG, specialists in next-generation energy infrastructure.

The announcement follows the launch earlier in 2022 of the first carbon-negative homes on St. Modwen, an experiment that makes homes airtight to allow them to feed power back to the UK grid.

According to St Mowden, these carbon negative homes are designed to produce more energy than they consume and could reduce a family’s overall energy bills by 76% compared to a standard new build house.

Aspects of this trial will be implemented in the new all-electric homes and in turn in all new St. Modwen as carbon reduction technology becomes standard.

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