Living Lab 4: Smart Housing, Smart Communities Digital Blueprint for a Smart Home of the Future

The Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI), which is hosted at the University of Strathclyde, in partnership with Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST) and the Moray Growth Deal (MGD) Housing Mix Delivery (HMD) project, is looking to procure a forward-thinking yet practically grounded digital blueprint for a smart rural home of the future—one that is adaptable across various geographic and demographic contexts and supports health and wellbeing across all stages. This work is a cornerstone of the Rural Centre of Excellence (RCE) for Digital Health & Care Innovation, part of the Moray Growth Deal’s (MGD) commitment to advancing integrated innovation in housing, health, and care. The digital blueprint will be widely showcased at national and international levels. The digital blueprint will not be a fully architecturally resolved house design. Instead, it will provide a strategic, design-informed framework combining technical insight, digital integration, and visual storytelling that makes the vision compelling and understandable for a range of audiences—from policymakers and funders to developers, planners, and residents of all ages. What makes this blueprint different is its truly integrated and forward-facing nature. It merges cutting-edge digital health and care technologies with sustainable, low-carbon construction and rural-specific design challenges—right from the start. The appointed contractor will have a rare opportunity to lead on the development of a nationally significant model for future rural living and integrated care. The successful team will be embedded in a high-profile, cross-sector collaboration with the University of Strathclyde’s Digital Care & innovation Centre (DHI), Built Environment – Smart Transformation (BE-ST), local authorities, and innovation partners. It offers the contractor an opportunity to be a thought leader in digital construction, sustainable design, and preventative smart health and care integration—areas of increasing strategic importance across public and private sectors.