'Retrofit for the Future' explained - with video

Eighty-seven social housing projects across the UK are set to benefit from a share of £17 million of government funding to test low carbon building technology.

The programme, entitled ‘Retrofit for the Future’, is the first of its kind in the UK, and will see social housing units across the country retrofitted with new, innovative technologies.

Understanding and implementing best practice retrofitting is key to meeting the government’s CO2 reduction target of 80% by 2050.  The results of the projects will be shared to help show how the UK’s current housing stock could be made more energy efficient.

In the initial design phase, over 190 organisations – including housing associations, architects and construction companies – received up to £20,000 each to carry out full feasibility studies and devise innovative proposals.

From these proposals, 87 have now been awarded proof of concept development contracts to carry out retrofits on current social houses.

The retrofit prototypes will each receive an average of £142,000 to demonstrate deep cuts in carbon emissions and exemplar energy efficient measures in UK social housing.

The level of funding is specifically designed to stimulate the implementation of innovative, proof of concept demonstrator houses that may offer cost effective solutions for wider role out across the UK.

Each demonstrator house will therefore be carefully evaluated by the Energy Saving Trust for at least two years and the potential for lower cost implementation in volume across the remaining UK social housing stock assessed.

More detail on the implementation of energy efficient measures for social housing UK wide will follow in the government’s Household Energy Management Strategy, which will soon be released.

In the following video, experts from the Technology Strategy Board and the Energy Saving Trust explain the innovative new changes.