Retrofit brings Tomorrow's World to tenants

1st February 2010
There's something of the Tomorrow's World about a house in Ollerton, Notts.

In a special project called Retrofit, Nottingham Community Housing Association (NCHA) is fitting out a property to the year 2050 standards which includes many solutions with are currently prohibitively expensive and some which aren't even on the market yet.

This includes heating technology, thermal element improvements, efficiency improvements, renewable energy technology lighting, appliances, ventilation and even behaviour. Some are new applications for new technology and some take a fresh look at old measures.

Using part of a £150,000 grant from the government's Technology Strategy Board NCHA will monitor how this property performs and then use the rest of the money to improve three other houses (built at different times) to see how they work.

NCHA was chosen from hundreds of groups who applied and fought off stiff competition to be one of the 100 projects selected to receive the grant.

Mark Northridge, Deputy Maintenance Manager said " I have worked very hard on this project for several months to ensure we obtained this money for Retrofit. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to see how the latest innovations work and ensure that NCHA remains at the cutting edge of new technologies. Some work better in new builds, others are better suited to older houses.
We want to provide the best for our tenants but as a not-for-profit organisation we can't afford to make expensive mistakes. This way we can use the results to spend our money where it can bring the most value. We can then roll out this knowledge to the rest of the social housing world and there is a potential for cost reductions through development and increased take up."

NCHA are already working with UK product manufacturers, suppliers and installers and all of the solutions have a UK element. The project will be monitored by the Energy Savings Trust for two years.