A SCOTTISH specialist housing and care provider has taken its home of the future to Europe’s largest housing festival – built across three shipping containers.

Edinburgh-based Blackwood is displaying a working replica of “Blackwood House” at the Chartered Institute of Housing’s (CIH) annual conference in Manchester.

The pioneering home can transform the day-to-day lives of people who want to live independently, using cutting-edge technology and design that reimagines living space and redesigns it physically and technologically to make it more accessible.

Conference attendees and potential partners can see the technology in action across the adapted shipping containers.

Simon Fitzpatrick, Blackwood’s development and commercial director, said: “It obviously represents a logistical challenge to get a Blackwood House replica down to Manchester so we came up with the innovative use of shipping containers to help.

“We’re passionate about the way our Blackwood Houses allow people to live as independently as possible and it’s exciting that we’re going to be able to display it at Europe’s largest housing conference.

“We believe in creating neighbourhoods with the Blackwood House at the very heart of them which is something partners at the conference can really get behind … The Blackwood House provides a solution to the national housing crisis and we’re making it our mission to enable people who want to live independently really gain from technological advances.”

Over the next five years, Blackwood has developed ambitious development programme and every aspect of the house has been carefully considered to remove obstacles or issues that can disrupt daily life.

It features electric doors that slide open and shut at the touch of a tablet, removing any hassle of manoeuvring around them.

The property is also “smart”, with technology playing a key role. Lights, blinds, doors, entry systems and heating can all be controlled via Blackwood’s bespoke digital care system, CleverCogs, and much of the technology can be voice-controlled.