24 SOLUTIONS FOR LOW ENERGY DOMESTIC RETROFIT AT SCALE ROUND TABLE REVIEW ROUND TABLE RECOMMENDATIONS
• Simon Kemp, Warmworks: When it comes to the fuel poverty agenda, consideration needs to be paid to demand-led reactive retrofi ts.
• Greg Mathers, Studio CMA: It’s about balance; we need to recognise that nothing in a building happens in isolation. And we need the checks early on before we implement things, because it’s only going to work if we can build trust through successful delivery.
• Andrew Tod, Sureserve: There’s a danger we’re going to be moving too slowly, because we have been waiting for the Warm Homes Plan, now we just need to get on with it, otherwise all the issues about the cost of living are not going to be addressed soon enough.
TRIPLE THREAT
Sustainability consultant Naomi Sadler of SEES stressed the challenges around moving to triple glazing, from the added weight on frames to possible overheating
Window views
Co-sponsor IDSystems posed the question “how much consideration is given to thermal effi ciency when it comes to the choice of glazing solutions for retrofi t, and how much is the choice of systems decided by other factors, including cost, aesthetics and functionality?” Simon Kemp offered the view that windows in large-scale retrofi t “were in large part viewed as a commodity,” while Naomi Sadler said all developers she was working with “were going to triple glazing as a marketing thing; it’s the new double glazing, but replacing double with triple can create other problems.” She explained this further challenge for consumer acceptance towards the aim of using glazing to achieve higher thermal values, saying the g-values of triple glazing “aren’t understood.” Having a “much lower g value,” would mean the inevitable consequence of “not benefi tting from the solar gains [to the same degree].”
She added that a further issue “which is not really considered,” is that a triple-glazed window weighs “substantially more,” so they “have to be adjusted every couple of years because of the weight on the frame.” And fi nally, she said that if windows’ opening areas are reduced, there is a clearly more risk of overheating. Anna Scothern of the National Home Improvement Council said that the benefi ts of innovative approaches were not a given, and “should focus not only on technology but on system integration.” She said while digital tools could simplify compliance and data capture, “aggregation platforms” were needed that “enable SME participation without removing local identity.” Innovation needed to dovetail into existing ways of working, she said, and “must reduce friction, not introduce new complexity.”
Conclusion: innovating the wider retrofi t market The round table delegates agreed that stability in the market was needed to see retrofi t at scale getting fully underway, but part of this was, in the words of Anna Scothern, about “long-term policy clarity over short-term interventions.” Also, SMEs including housebuilders had to be supported in their transition away from new build to retrofi t, but were currently excluded while still expected to comply. The scale asked for will only be achieved “if ambition is matched by delivery realism; she added. The Government “needs to unlock and enable the capacity that already exists within the RMI and SME
• Ben Whiterod, Social Infrastructure: The sector needs consistency. Stop changing the goal posts and the way we work; we need to make our minds up, and roll our sleeves up.
• Cypren Edmunds, Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance: Support skills development focused on older traditional buildings. Much of UK housing stock requires risk aware treatment so policy must refl ect that.
• Rick Clarke, NIBE Energy Systems: Government needs to reduce the cost of electricity, that’s the only way forward.
• Brian Berry, Federation of Master Builders: Every home needs to have an improved EPC, as the passport which is the starting point for everything.
• Trevor Wilkins, PAH Building & Construction: The cost of electricity is the biggest deal here, it’s an impact for everybody. None of us know what the roadmap looks like, and it worries the hell out of me that we are relying on the Government to get it right.
• Naomi Sadler, SEES (Sadler Energy & Environmental Services): Retrofi t Assessment works for maybe one to three dwellings, but anything above that should come under BREEAM Refurbishment.
• Laura Morgan-Forster, Innovate UK: Retrofi t is a massive opportunity for the UK economy, and investors know that decarbonisation of heat is a big opportunity for them. Consistency of outcomes is very important, and there needs to be a pipeline of work that exists because people want retrofi t.
community, but this meant changing the market environment so SMEs can “invest with confi dence.” And pluralism in the market was needed, to move “from centralised control to distributed capability,” and the scale required would result “from policy aligning with how the RMI sector actually functions — relationship-led, SME-dominated, and risk-sensitive.” Most tellingly, retrofi t “must be normalised as part of mainstream home improvement,” concluded Scothern. As Laura Morgan-Forster of the Government-affi liated Innovate UK asserted, the insights from our round table further proved, domestic retrofi t and decarbonisation is a “massive opportunity.” However, the discussion also revealed that there are a host of issues to fi x, beyond giving the sector a solid pipeline of work, to achieving the consistency and quality that is needed to help homeowners and tenants buy in.
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