From 2025, the proposed Future Homes Standard will ban gas boilers in newbuild homes, and require more stringent building energy efficiency requirements – all with the aim of reducing carbon emissions by 80%.

To meet the Future Homes Standard three years ahead of schedule, a trial project, called 'Project 80', and led by housing association Midland Heart, will see the installation of two complete Baxi Assure air source heat pump systems in newly built homes in Handsworth, Birmingham.

The houses, which are due for completion by Easter 2022, will be lived in and will serve ‘living labs’ to test how the inhabitants manage in their futuristic homes. The evidence gathered will help to inform how developers and their suppliers adapt to the standard ahead of an expected technical consultation in 2023.

Baxi Air Source Heat Pump Development Manager Ryan Kirkwood said: “Our involvement in Project 80 will demonstrate how our air source heat pumps can make an important contribution to lowering greenhouse gas emissions in new homes.

“We will also gain insights from monitoring how people adapt to living in these homes that will help us to solve the complex energy transition.”