24housing Award 2010

We’re delighted with the response to our Retrofit Award 2010. As we expected, your achievements in the retrofit arena are pioneering, creative and – most importantly – extremely effective in cutting CO2 and improving energy consumption for residents across the UK. 

We were impressed with ALL the entries, and it was a tough task to narrow them down to five semi-finalist flagship projects. From a tiny one bedroom flat to large-scale retrofit of whole urban estates, each entry demonstrated that social housing providers have the will and the skill to make a difference.

Over to you
Now it’s your turn. You have until 10^th April to vote for the project that impresses you most. The three projects with the most votes will then be submitted to our panel of expert judges for the final decision.

The semi-finalists are:

Dumfries and Galloway

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Project: Block One - Flats 1-7 Municipal Terrace, Dumfries
Description: Reputedly Scotland’s very first social housing, Municipal Terrace was built in 1913 to house the working classes. Now showing signs of wear and tear, the properties have structural problems and poor energy ratings.  Work is underway to enhance the life of these homes with their special character by using innovative low carbon ecological solutions and technologies.  Knowledge gained will be shared with the wider community of Dumfries & Galloway and with the Scottish Construction Industry.

• Significantly higher levels of insulation including sheep’s wool loft insulation, passive standard doors, windows and living Sedum flat roofs.
• Solar Photovoltaic (electric production) and Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) lighting and Cat 5 wiring.
• Underfloor gas heating and ‘A’ rated gas boilers; or air source heat pump and Mechanical Heat Recovery Ventilation (MHRV).
• Smart Metering and monitoring equipment.
• Estimated CO2 reduction in excess of 80%.

(click here to view full details)

Metropolitan Housing Trust London

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PROJECT: Neighbourhood Investment Unit
DESCRIPTION:MHT London has a large property base in Haringey where, in 2004, it was faced with 600 hard-to-treat homes with very high reactive repairs costs. In response, MHT set up the Neighbourhood Investment Unit, a small regeneration team tasked with tackling these properties, carrying out a ‘whole-house’ package of works. The programme has delivered over 300 of these refurbishments so far.

• Loft insulation, floor insulation under suspended timber floors, double glazed windows, low energy lighting.
• Sound insulation between flats, electrical rewiring, structural works, new bathrooms and kitchens.
• Complete central heating upgrade including A-rated condensing combi boiler, TRVs and roomstats.
• Resident Liaison Officer works with tenants and community throughout process.
• Returning residents receive an ‘eco-welcome pack’.
• Average 45% CO2 reduction.

(click here to view full details)

Notting Hill Housing Group (NHHG)

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Project: Notting Hill Low Carbon Refurbishment Initiative
DESCRIPTION: Notting Hill has focused on its Victorian and Edwardian housing stock as these hard to treat buildings account for approximately 7 million homes throughout the UK. Its strategy was to look beyond Decent Homes and demonstrate an approach which could be used to retrofit properties in a cost effective and practical way. The project has been separated into two stages, firstly an ‘exemplar’ refurbishment of a six-bed mid-terrace Victorian home and, secondly, a series of pilot property refurbishments for void and occupied housing units.

• V phase linear unit – tackling over-voltage, photovoltaic and solar panels.
• Under floor heating to the basement area, Spacetherm dry lining systems.
• Pilkington energikare vacuum glass; recycled glass kitchen worktop.
• Developin the ‘Value Carbon’ concept.
• Estimated 84% CO2 reduction for exemplar unit; 15-59% CO2 reduction for pilots.

(click here to view full details)

Radian

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Project: Highfield Road
Description: 20 reinforced pre-cast concrete homes in Highfield Road in Petersfield, Hampshire were classified as ‘hard to treat’, with no cavity walls and non-traditional construction.  All energy efficiency measures were initially installed in three empty properties, enabling Radian to identify problems and refine solutions before rolling out the project to the remaining occupied homes. The original three properties were used as temporary accommodation for residents whilst the extensive work was carried out on their own homes down the street.

• Work carried out by Radian’s in-house contractor, developing new skills.
• Renewable solar energy technologies on three properties: hot water panels and electricity-generating photovoltaics.
• High performance external wall insulation, new external render system.
• Double glazing, draught proofing, air pressure testing, extra loft insulation, gas condensing boilers controlled via Thermostatic Radiator Valves.
• 79 - 85% reduction in CO2.

(click here to view full details)

Wherry Housing Association (Circle Anglia)

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Project: Greening the Box
Description: Greening the Box (GTB) is a 1930s hard to treat, hard to heat property off the mains gas network in rural Norfolk, which had no insulation and inefficient heating. Wherry employed a low-tech, practical ‘whole house’ approach, incorporating ‘Zero Heating’ – a natural regime that relies on solar heating and human occupation.

• The only other kind of heating in the home is a low-grade electric under-floor heating system – there is no gas fire, oil or mechanical boiler, radiators, flues or pipes.
• Super insulation helps retain heat generated by the occupants and appliances; the dense concrete floor and superstructure of the building acts like a storage radiator.
• Other features include passive stack and cross ventilation to cool the building, 600mm of quilted recycled plastic roof insulation, a rotating cowl on the roof to draw air through, and breathable walls.
• Estimated 93% reduction in CO2.

(click here to view full details)

Our judging panel
The retrofit best practice award expert external judges include: 

Andrew Eagles, Sustainable Homes
Mat Colmer, Energy Saving Trust
Jim Vine, Building and Social Housing Foundation
Barrington Billings, Director Glendon Property Services
Paul Roche, SIG Sustainable Solutions.
Wayne Hemingway, designer and Chair, Building for Life