Retrofit your Home to Save Energy.      

Retrofit means improving an existing building in such a way as to greatly increase its energy efficiency and reduce its carbon-emissions. With so much of our housing stock  built before the war, this is the place to start in reducing Britain’s carbon footprint – not to mention lowering bills and making our homes comfortable and healthy. 

With 110 people registering for the webinar, there is clearly no shortage of motivation which our three speakers addressed in different ways.  Jennifer Morisetti, a qualified retrofit consultant and trustee of DCAN, talked of the importance of servicing our homes and dealing with drainage problems promptly.  She spoke of the importance of considering the whole building, dealing with ventilation and moisture control.  She used the experience of renovating her own farmhouse to illustrate the importance of breathable materials. Jenny finished her presentation with recommendations for sources of information, particularly CSE.org. 

Jason Hawke, Magna Housing head of sustainability, has the job of overseeing the energy usage of over 8000 properties, and bringing them up to net zero standard. 

Jason explained that the law of unintended consequences often leads  unqualified builders creating damp and mould in underventilated buildings.  All retrofit in funded buildings now have to be designed by PAS2035 qualified coordinators, and installed by PAS 2030 fitters. He strongly urged anybody working on their own homes to insist on this standard, identifying builders on Trustmark or the Green Register.  The standard involves an energy performance assessment, strategies for dealing with ventilation, insulation, moisture movement, airtightness and heating, and awareness of statutory requirements.

He then went on to point out the lack of such trained coordinators, and the steps Magna is taking to train enough retrofitters to meet government net zero commitments. He pointed to free places on level 2 courses, run by CSE which are currently available.  It is clear that any zero Carbon strategy will have to include a major commitment by governments to initiate and fund courses to reverse the chronic skills shortage.  

The third speaker, Andy Knott, shared his experience as a homeowner in retrofitting a mill house, involving a major input from a building physicist to calculate optimum thicknesses for interior wall insulation. They rebuilt the roof of the house increasing the light and movement of air.  He emphasised the importance of a building team willing to learn about new materials and methods, with whom he worked very closely to learn on the job. 

The webinar was recorded and can be watched here.  Email us for the password.