What is retrofitting?
The word “retrofit” is used to describe the process of making changes to your home so that energy consumption and carbon emissions are reduced.
These changes should also provide the benefit of a more comfortable and healthier home with lower fuel bills.
It often involves:
- Improving insulation of walls, floors and lofts, and
- Upgrading windows and doors.
It can also include making energy efficiencies by:
- Renewing services such as heating, hot water and lighting.
Why we need it
New homes are required to meet building regulation standards on energy efficiency, but even in the new city of Milton Keynes the majority of people live in older homes which are less energy efficient.
According to latest Valuation Office data, one in six homes in England (15%) were built before 1900, and the age of a property is the most significant factor associated with energy efficiency.
There are three main reasons why retrofitting our homes is so important:
Our highlights
We tested 25 homes across Bow Brickhill, Wavenden and Woburn Sands to assess how leaky the fabric of their homes were and whether they were ready to fit an air source heat pump, or would require more insulation or other retrofit measures. We worked with Build Test Solutions and piloted their proprietary Smart HTC technology. Each house received a tailored report using their actual energy use and internal and external temperature data.
We ran the project with Milton Keynes City Council as part of their EU POTeNT work and were funded by a Western Power Distribution grant.
Following a grant from The Steel Fund, we installed floor and wall insulation in hard to heat homes in Wolverton. We were also able to fund LED lighting in association with AGE UK.
With many households in Milton Keynes struggling to deal with rising fuel bills and not having access to information, advice and funding to make changes to their homes, we created Home Energy MK to change this. Our innovative “one-stop shop” provides free advice, information and guidance for homeowners in Milton Keynes who want to retrofit their homes for greater comfort and to make savings on their energy bills and carbon emissions.
The Housewarming MK project is designed to give interested home owners in Milton Keynes an understanding of how they can make their home more energy efficient. These in-person sessions are designed to help homeowners to better understand each of the core retrofit areas in turn, supported by experts and their local community of like-minded neighbours.
The programme is wholly independent and does not recommend or sell any specific products. It assumes the homeowner is likely to be using professionals to deliver the retrofit work so includes details of the options available as well as key risks that could be encountered to help homeowners develop their own knowledge and plans to have more informed conversations with contractors.
Learn more and join the next Housewarming programme.
We piloted a project with the Simpson community that looked at sharing an in depth retrofit survey of one home with the whole street. If a house is built at the same time, in the same materials, in the same design as every other house in a street (or estate) is it useful for each household to spend £500 plus for an individual survey, and how much would the recommendations have in common with each other? We tested our theory across three different streets in Simpson.
We worked with Pure Leapfrog and the British Airways Carbon Fund to install £20,000 of LED lighting at Wyvern School.
The new lighting will cut the school’s lighting bills by around 50%. However, the benefits are not only financial. There is increasing evidence that LED lighting also has a positive impact on children’s learning.
Retrofit - home & community
We help Milton Keynes homeowners through our Home Energy MK programme.
There, you will find a range of independent, expert information that is free of charge.
How to get involved
We are always on the lookout for new ways and products that can help homeowners and organisations improve their energy efficiency, especially when they (a.) cut costs of that process, but without reducing the quality of the impact and (b.) help to scale the benefits across our community. If you have one of those, please get in touch with your ideas and experiences.
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