Success for Hounslow Homes in retrofit competition

The results of the Technology Strategy Board’s ‘Retrofit for the Future’ competition have been announced and one of Hounslow Homes’ submissions to retrofit a three bedroom, semi-detached property in Hounslow has been successful.

In the initial design phase, over 190 organisations - including housing associations, architects and construction companies - received funding 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.

This programme is the first of its kind in the UK, and will see social housing units across the country retrofitted with new, innovative technologies. Each of the retrofit projects have been allocated funding to demonstrate deep cuts in carbon emissions and exemplar energy efficient measures in UK social housing.

Key features of the retrofit project include:

• A ‘Passivhaus’ whole-house design – where specific heat energy requirements will be reduced by 95% while also reducing complexity, minimizing primary energy use and creating a healthy indoor environment with plenty of fresh air.
• An external insulation solution will be applied to minimise occupant disruption, increase energy efficiency, and demonstrate that it can be sympathetically detailed on a post war building.
• Substantial internal insulation upgrades, using innovative materials to help control moisture levels within the existing structure.
• Installation of an energy efficient mechanical heat recovery ventilation unit will deliver the fresh air supply as well as recover heat from high temperature areas such as kitchen and disperse it elsewhere in the house
• An energy efficient gas boiler and a highly insulated dual coil hot water cylinder with solar input from roof mounted collectors will be installed. New controls will ensure that the heat input to the house is in tune with the low heat loss, to avoid overheating and to maximise boiler efficiency.
• Replacing the existing thick, air filled double glazing with triple glazed Passivhaus windows.
• Installation of energy efficiency lighting and appliances.

All these retrofit methods and others will result in a 87.5% CO2 reduction. The retrofit is relying on tough but achievable energy efficiency measures rather than simply carbon offsetting, and will be using Hounslow Homes’ in-house direct labour force to undertake most of the installations. The application of this holistic design and build approach has the potential to galvanise deep-energy cuts, improve thermal comfort, reduce energy bills and lower CO2 emissions for millions of properties across the UK. Works undertaken on the property will also be carefully evaluated by the Energy Saving Trust for at least 2 years to see how effective they are for implementation in volume across the remaining UK social housing stock.