Catalyst Housing Group launch exemplar eco-refurbishments in Reading
Posted by Andrew Eagles on Tue, Jan 31, 2012
A ground breaking eco-refurbishment of two Victorian, ‘hard-to-treat’ homes is being undertaken in Reading by Catalyst Housing Group. Catalyst is part of the Sustainable Homes Index For Tomorrow the national sustainability best practise group.
Buildings account for approximately 40% of UK carbon emissions, and the majority of this comes from domestic buildings. The Catalyst Group’s eco-homes project compares two different approaches, one which prioritises cost and one which prioritises performance, to provide information on how best to retrofit hard-to-treat homes, and to help identify value-for-money approaches to reducing carbon dioxide emissions across Catalyst’s housing stock.
As part of this innovative scheme, which is the first of its kind in the borough, the project
team will remotely monitor the performance of the homes for one year once residents move in. The residents will then be given training on how to reduce energy consumption by adapting their behaviour and the properties will be monitored for a subsequent year. Results from the first and second year monitoring phases will be compared. Catalyst hopes this will provide valuable information on how everyone can reduce fuel bills and carbon footprints by making small changes to the way homes are run.
The project uses two Victorian houses from Catalyst’s rental stock in Reading. Building A is referred to as ‘Cost House’, and the marginal costs over and above the standard refurbishment cost are kept as low as possible. Building B is referred to as ‘Quality House’, with budgetary constraints were secondary to performance when measures to reduce CO₂ emissions were being considered at design stage.
Data on CO₂ emissions, water and fuel consumption will be used to measure the actual performance of the homes against projected performance. A huge reduction in the environmental impact of the homes should be brought about by the energy efficiency measures installed, with a projected 83% CO₂ saving from Cost House and a projected 91% saving from Performance House.
Catalyst Housing Chief Executive Rod Cahill said:
“Making sure our housing stock is fit for the future is not only important for the environment, but also crucial to affordability. Fuel poverty is a key issue for us particularly when the cost of energy is at an all time high, so we are very keen to understand how we can most cost effectively reduce the cost in use of our homes for the benefit of our customers. I am sure that other owners of such hard-to-treat homes will be keen to see what can be done to make them more energy efficient."
“The key thing about this initiative is that it looks at energy saving in the round – different types of materials and technology, but also resident behaviour. We are keen to share the results to help the government and housing providers up and down the country to make environmentally friendly and lower cost homes a reality. I am really proud of the in house team which has promoted this ground breaking initiative.”
Andrew Eagles, Managing Director of Sustainable Homes, said “this type of project is exactly what the sector needs: measured impacts of sustainability. Particularly exciting is the monitoring and open book approach to the retrofits being undertaken. We will all be able to learn from this approach.”
The whole project is being delivered on an open book basis, so that other constructors, housing associations, government departments and any other interested parties can use Catalyst's experience to help inform their own approaches to improving the environmental performance of the UK’s housing stock.
The project is being managed in-house, using existing partnering contractors and suppliers so that all parties benefit from lessons learned and knowledge gained. The measures which demonstrate maximum carbon savings for the least amount of money will be integrated into Catalyst’s new and existing programmes of work, and feed into its long term sustainability strategy.
Notes:
Full information on the project is available, where all the data and accounts from the project will be published.
Catalyst aims to be a catalyst for change and improvement wherever we work – so that more people have a chance to build a better future.
Catalyst Housing’s work includes housing regeneration schemes, low cost home ownership, general needs housing, sheltered and special needs housing, residential care homes, and key worker accommodation, plus various community based initiatives including training. Operating in an area of considerable housing demand, Catalyst currently provides over 20,000 affordable homes in London and the South East.
For more information, please contact Adrian Bradley, Media Relations Manager Catalyst Housing, 020 8832 3142 adrian.bradley@chg.org.uk
