We are proud to be sponsoring Heriot-Watt University as the only UK university to have secured a place at Solar Decathlon Middle East 2020 (SDME2020). 

As one of only 18 entrants in the global competition, the university’s ‘Team ESTEEM’ will compete with other students from around the world to design and build an innovative full-size solar powered house. Known for their pioneering research, the university will use our high-performance windows and doors as part of their cutting-edge design.

Partnering with industry leaders to build a full-sized prototype of the house on their Edinburgh campus in Spring 2021, the university’s multi-disciplinary student team will then ship an adapted version to Dubai for the Solar Decathlon project and World Expo. Prefabrication and high-quality construction will be essential as the Dubai house will need to be built within just 14 days before being opened to the public.



The Specification

The theme of the competition, which takes place between October 2021 and November 2021, is ‘Going Beyond Zero’. Each entry will be assessed across ten different areas to ensure that they perform as they are designed to do. 
The fully functioning houses will be judged in the areas of: Architecture, Engineering, Smart Solutions, Energy Efficiency, Sustainability, Communication, Innovation, House Functioning, Energy Management, Comfort Conditions and Mobility. 




Norrsken & Team Esteem

We are delighted to be supporting Heriot-Watt University in their quest to win this exciting international competition, which is closely aligned with our own ethos to significantly contribute to the future of energy efficient design and the delivery of high-performance buildings. 

You can read more about the project on Team Esteem's Website.