A new partnership created to transform the UK retrofit market is calling for more social housing and solid wall building refurbishments on which to test its unique performance pledge.
Unlike anything else in the retrofit market, the pledge from the Better Retrofit Partnership covers not only energy performance but fabric durability, environmental impact, usability and occupant health and comfort.
Now founders Aereco, Baumit UK, Natural Building Technologies and Parity Projects want estate managers and social landlords to partner with them in proving the benefits of the whole house approach. They have also revealed more details of how the performance pledge in retrofit will operate.
Explained Aereco Director Pierre Lopez: “Our pledge is based on a comprehensive and wholly impartial survey, energy assessment and risk assessment at the start. This approach will allow us to develop a precisely tailored design and specification for the refurbishment, which is then delivered by our approved installers and comprehensively tested after completion.
“Performance is going to be measured using a combination of survey-based modelling and pre and post-completion testing - thermographic and airtightness. Ongoing monitoring and feedback, including internal temperature, relative humidity and occupant surveys, will also provide us with additional performance evidence. The methodology and metrics are fully declared, transparent and based upon current best practice and scientific understanding.”
The partners says their confidence in offering such a comprehensive guarantee is based on a unique approach to retrofit – one they hope will prove a model for the industry and address the chronic failure of many refurbishment projects.
Parity Projects MD Russell Smith says: “There’s growing awareness among a number of industry bodies that before long we will start to see the negative impacts and costs of having taken a piecemeal approach to refurbishing the UK’s housing stock.
“A high percentage of current retrofit projects are not performing as expected, and worse, are actually increasing the risks to long-term fabric viability and occupant health. Measures that are widely accepted throughout the refurbishment industry consistently have damaging and unintended impacts on another.”
He added: “There is a better way of working together – a whole house approach which delivers better retrofit through a holistic understanding of the relationships between energy, health, fabric, ventilation and user behaviour.
“Having a fully integrated process with appropriate quality control, right from the initial survey and specification through to post-occupancy feedback, is the only way to achieve an assured level of thermal performance, indoor air quality, fabric durability and occupant health, comfort and satisfaction.”