| Abstract |
The aim of the project is to validate the cost, time and energy effectiveness of domestic retrofit across different house types, using an approach that could be employed to improve the energy efficiency of the vast majority of the existing 26 million homes in the UK which will still be in existence by 2050. The novel, mass-scale retrofit approach being tested was first developed in a deskbased ETI project (“Optimising Thermal Efficiency of Existing Housing”) completed in 2012, as part of the ETI Buildings programme. The 20-month long, £475,000 project will retrofit five types of domestic property, identified and prioritised in the earlier ETI project
This document is the second of two final summative reports produced by PRP for the ETI funded Buildings Retrofit project. This report focuses on the project conclusions and opportunities for improving delivery of whole house retrofit in the future. The first summative report focuses on key performance results from the ETI building retrofit project. This report contains a summary of the key findings from the project, analysis of the effectiveness of the delivery of the Retrofit Approach, market opportunities and commercial models for the Retrofit Approach, analysis of how to achieve commercial viability of the Retrofit Approach and a roadmap to develop the industrial capabilit
A number of key processes and aspects of the Retrofit Approach have been tested in the demonstration houses, including survey, design and installation processes, energy performance, as well as supply chain and consumer acceptance.
Some of the key findings from our evaluation are as follows:- Efficient and advanced survey methods are essential to identify the underlying conditions of the property.
- A library of standard installation details and technical solutions has been proven to reduce time and hence cost at the design stage.
- High performance insulation and building products used in the Retrofit Approach are still at the top end niche of the market.
- Installer productivity is a major opportunity for reduced programme periods and resource costs, however productivity must not be prioritised over quality otherwise the Retrofit Approach cost and technical performance targets will not be achieved.
- It is evident from the demonstration houses that when the retrofit measures are installed correctly there is a significant improvement to the thermal performance of the property, which in turn proves the Retrofit Approach target saving for heat energy consumption.
- The supply chain is not yet set up for delivery logistics to individual home retrofit projects.
Our research from the demonstration houses has led to a deeper and richer understanding of the practicality and viability of the Retrofit Approach, and has allowed us to identify a roadmap to develop industrial capability for the Retrofit Approach |
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