Housing in the UK accounts for 27% of carbon emissions. With an estimated 80% of existing homes expected to still be in use by 2050 it’s clear that existing buildings represent a key part of the overall emissions challenge – and it needs to be tackled urgently.
The Institute and its partners have highlighted this challenge to the government over the past year and developed a three-phase retrofitting initiative in the Thames Gateway.
This project involves the development and demonstration of practical, economic, and socially acceptable retrofit solutions for both social and owner occupied housing. The initiative covers single housing units through to large communities to develop effective retrofit solutions for different circumstances.
Work is gaining momentum in several areas:
At the housing unit level, a project involving around 100 homes in Dartford is underway, investigating whole-house energy and water efficiency. This initiative is facilitating technical partnerships and project management development, as well as early stage community engagement.
The Institute has also initiated project planning for a community-level retrofit demonstrator project addressing up to 500 homes in Queensborough and Rushenden in Swale. This project will assess the social aspects of community-level retrofitting, such as community engagement and user uptake.
Both projects bring together a broad partnership of social housing landlords, local and regional government, as well as key industry players across the eco-retrofit spectrum.
A final phase will involve regional retrofitting to cover thousands of homes in the Thames Gateway, with organisations working in partnership across the Greater South East to apply the knowledge gained at the unit and community level. This project will incorporate the Institute’s ‘total community retrofit’ approach, which focuses on buildings within the complete community context, including occupants, transportation and public spaces for example.
This is one of a series of projects currently operating at the Institute. Updates on further projects will be covered in future issues of this newsletter. The Institute will also soon release news of successful funding bids, which will help the Institute’s core research programme to gain pace.