Low Energy Buildings Database

Green Structures Ltd. Retrofit Brixton

This project seeks to create a cost effective and comprehensive solution that can be applied throughout the UK social housing stock. Full insulation will be provided to the existing house to ensure airtightness and minimise heat loss and thermal bridging. We have developed an innovative passive solar thermal system integrated into the building fabric using PCM to provide the domestic hot water and space heating demands. The proposed solution is innovative and holistic in its approach while remaining cost effective, allowing great potential for replicating throughout the market. With an approximate CO2 emission reduction of 90% and energy demand reduction of 85%, this project will serve as an exemplar in the UK social housing sector.

Construction type	Solid Brick	Project type	Refurbishment
Property type	Mid Terrace	Sector	Public Residential
Location	Brixton London	Project owner	Green Structures Ltd
Retrofit for the future	ZA619U

Hanley, Stoke-On-Trent

A whole house retrofit is achieved through detailed application of passivhaus principles to the refurbishment of a C19th terrace house, which prioritise insulation of the fabric, achieving excellent air tightness with a minimal space heating requirement, and whole house heat recovery ventilation. The aim is to make the house easy to inhabit with a low carbon footprint. The existing building has been carefully surveyed, and proposed fabric and services have been analysed using the Passive House Planning Package, which allows designers to test assumptions thoroughly, and a free exchange of ideas between architect, service engineer and contractor has allowed proposed design details to be well integrated, and assessed for practicality.

Construction type	Solid Brick	Project type	Refurbishment
Property type	Mid Terrace	Sector	Public Residential
Location	Hanley, Stoke-On-Trent Staffordshire	Project owner	Sanctuary Group
Retrofit for the future	ZA114U

Hard to Heat Homes

The proposal is to examine solutions for a particular building type: the post war single storied house. Typically built in the 1950s or 60s, they are commonly occupied by elderly people. The RSL group member, Aragon Housing, has more than 1700 of this house type in its building stock. The objectives for this refurbishment project were as follows (a) to improve the building envelope, (b) to validate a low carbon renewable energy proposal that would interlink fabric and the installations to provide controls suitable to the occupant behaviour (c) to substantially reduce carbon emissions and to provide a cost effective whole house solution that would enhance the tenant wellbeing (d) to monitor the installations and occupant behaviour

Construction type	Masonry Cavity	Project type	Refurbishment
Property type	Mid Terrace	Sector	Public Residential
Location	Wrestlingworth Bedfordshire	Project owner	SDC Builders Ltd
Retrofit for the future	ZA178J

Hounslow Council Passivhaus Retrofit - and the development of a decision making matrix

The house is a 3-bedroom semi-detached single-family dwelling built in the early 1950s. The property is located in Hounslow close to Heathrow airport, and is not located within a conservation area. We propose a Passivhaus refurbishment including external insulation, roof insulation, triple glazed windows and heat recovery ventilation. German best practice techniques in low-energy building design, as evolved by the Passivhaus Institute in Darmstadt, have kick-started a revolution in construction practices. Frequently achieving a remarkable Factor-10 reduction in typical space heating energy demand, Passivhaus success is contingent upon using a whole-house approach.

Construction type	Solid Brick	Project type	Refurbishment
Property type	Semi-Detached	Sector	Public Residential
Location	London London	Project owner	Bere Associates Limited
Retrofit for the future	ZA522P

Hounslow Passivhaus Retrofit

This social housing retrofit by bere:architects, will be Enerphit passivhaus making use of external insulation, new windows, and heat recovery ventilation to ensure fresh air at the same time as very low heat loss. Specific heat energy requirements will be reduced by 95%, while alsominimizing primary energy use. The existing property has an abnormally high energy demand asassessed using the Passivhaus Planning Package (PHPP). These large values are in part due to a complete absence of loft insulation. The main objectives of the project are to show that deepenergy cuts are possible with social housing stock. As UK exposure to and experience of Passivhaus grows, we aim to show that improved thermal comfort, reduced energy bills and lower CO2 emissions are possible for millions of people in existing houses.

Construction type	Solid Brick	Project type	Refurbishment
Property type	Semi-Detached	Sector	Public Residential
Location	London -	Project owner	bere:architects

Ilford, Essex - East Thames Group: Low carbon refurbishment of a typical London Victorian street property.

This is a 4 bed end of terrace Victorian house, purchased by East Thames in 2007. Our approach to energy saving and CO2 reduction is to follow a lean-clean-green hierarchy: seeking to minimise heat losses from the property thermal fabric and ventilation method; to supply residual space and water heating using replicable, low carbon technology; to minimise lighting and appliance energy loads; and finally to consider micro-generation using proven, renewable energy systems. A further aspiration is to use materials derived from natural or renewable sources such as cellulose and woodfibre insulations, in order to protect the historic integrity of the existing construction through their inherent breathable and hygroscopic characteristics

Construction type	Solid Brick	Project type	Refurbishment
Property type	End Terrace	Sector	Public Residential
Location	Ilford Essex	Project owner	East Thames Group
Retrofit for the future	ZA423M

Improvement to a 1930s Semi-Detached Property in Whitehaven

Low energy and low carbon retrofitting of a three- bed semi-detached house in Whitehaven, Cumbria originally built in 1930's to achieve carbon emission reductions above 80%. This reduction is achieved by following a whole house approach, and prioritising low energy demand through fabric improvements first, followed by tried and tested low/zero carbon systems, to achieve an estimated 85% reduction in carbon emissions as compared to the existing house

Construction type	Masonry Cavity	Project type	Refurbishment
Property type	Semi-Detached	Sector	Public Residential
Location	Whitehaven Cumbria	Project owner	Roland Hill Ltd
Retrofit for the future	ZA241K

Inspiration Birmingham 2020

The project will inspire and inform retrofitting of mainstream urban social housing by creating a high quality exemplar of a common housing type. It will involve retrofitting a typical central Birmingham Victorian terrace (4 bedroom, attic conversion, on the gas grid) with a whole house package of energy saving measures. The technologies we intend to use are mostly proven and well established in the UK that can be installed using local building and heating contractors. We will be looking to replicate the successful outcomes of the project into the proposed Birmingham Green New Deal (a project that aims to retrofit 5,000 properties across the city).

Construction type	Solid Brick	Project type	Refurbishment
Property type	Mid Terrace	Sector	Public Residential
Location	Birmingham West Midlands	Project owner	Balsall Heath Housing Co-operative Ltd
Retrofit for the future	ZA349C

Interface Support Products for Existing Technologies

The proposed retrofit has been designed to be done to a property in Balham, London. This is a 3 bedroom house owned by Family Mosaic housing association, which sits on the edge of a conservation area, The proposal addresses a whole building solution by focusing on the fundamental energy consumption issues - namely a very high heating load and a higher than necessary electrical consumption. The large heating demand is due to the construction type of the house which we have proposed to adjust in the following ways : adding insulation to the walls (external insulation at the rear and internal insulation at the front) floor and roof and renewing the windows and installing MVHR.

Construction type	Solid Brick	Project type	Refurbishment
Property type	Mid Terrace	Sector	Public Residential
Location	London London	Project owner	Prewett Bizley Architects
Retrofit for the future	ZA332B

Isos Housing Group - End Terrace Retrofit

The proposed property, built around the turn of the century, is an end terrace with an Energy Efficiency Rating of 32. Its Environmental Impact (CO2) Rating is 27. There are 386,580 similar Victorian properties in the North East alone, allowing for great replicability potential (source: Compendium of North East England Housing & Population Data, North East Regional Information Partnership, www.nerip.com). The aim of the project from the outset was to balance carbon reductions with cost effectiveness, and provide exemplar pioneering solutions with high levels of comfort. The project team wished to use technologies sourced locally as far as possible and use the local labour force for installation and maintenance.

Construction type	Solid Brick	Project type	Refurbishment
Property type	End Terrace	Sector	Public Residential
Location	North Shields -	Project owner	Isos Housing Group
Retrofit for the future	ZA213Y