Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

Catalyst Land Development is researching a new residential building model that focuses on innovative housingunits that can be ""expanded"" or ""contracted"" according to the needs of home owners. The premise of thishousing model is to create homes where additional rooms or living space can be easily accommodated througha ""plug and play"" model of home renovation. In addition the model will provide the opportunity for homeowners to ""downsize"" by easily removing room/living space. While the concept of expandable and contractiblehousing has been discussed as an efficient model of home ownership given the demographic changes in theCanadian population, there are surprisingly few examples of this type of building project on the Internet.There are many challenging aspect to building this innovative housing, however, a key issue for this typehousing is the ability to connect (and disconnect) the electrical systems of any new space to the originalhousing structure in a simple and easy format.The research will focus on examining ""plug-in"" concepts that will illustrate the types of electrical models thatwill support units being added or removed. A key area will be to examine the municipal permittingrequirements and BC Building Code issues that will need to be considered in any design. The modelsenvisioned will embrace leading edge sustainability construction practices and standards such as LivingBuilding Challenge and LEED, affordability and mobility.The findings from this investigation will be of interest to a number of stakeholders including: land developers,engineers, municipal governments, construction managers, regional economic development groups, educationalprograms, and architects.