BRE is delighted to be part of two major new projects funded by Innovate UK’s Net Zero Heat Programme,which aims to help the UK move away from using gas as a source of heating space and water in buildings to meet its net zero commitments.
BRE took part in last year’s Design Engineering Innovation Lab, which allowed collaborative research and development projects to take shape, and today Let Zero and Transform-ER are announced by Innovate UK at Futurebuild.
BRE’s Director of Research Eloise Francis said: “Solutions to the climate crisis will only be found through collaboration and BRE is delighted to be part of two of Innovate UK’s major new projects. The team will be bringing BRE’s unique expertise in the built environment, particularly in data analysis, to work on one of the biggest challenges the built environment faces: how to retrofit homes. We hope to be a part of scalable and practical solutions which can be rolled out more widely to benefit as many people as possible.”
Led by South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, the Let Zero project aims to work with landlords in the private rented sector to improve decision making on renovations and improvements in their properties for the benefit of their tenants, especially the vulnerable.
BRE will be working alongside SYMCA and 10 additional project partners, including two universities and 3 SMEs, to develop, trial, and ultimately deliver a new, secure pathway to retrofit for the private landlord sector.
The project aims to link up properties in need of retrofit with suppliers and finance and grant bodies to provide a trusted support pathway and a clear roadmap to retrofit for owners and tenants of properties which are otherwise and historically difficult to redress.
BRE will be providing data and insights built on years of experience in the housing and energy market, and will look to benefit from the research into the stresses, constraints, and opportunities of the private rental sector.
The 18-month project secured £2.4m in funding from Innovate UK to develop an end-to-end solution, powered by A.I, to give landlords a clear direction for upgrading their properties, tailored to the needs of the occupants. The solution, to be tested in South Yorkshire, has the potential to be scalable across the UK.
BRE will work alongside 12 other industry-leading partners in the Transform-ER (Transform. Engage. Retrofit) project which will catalyse the transformational change that’s required to meet the 2050 net zero deadline.
Transform-ER will enable the rapid deployment of high-quality retrofit solutions, with the aim of retrofitting one million homes per year by 2030. It will achieve this by accelerating several market mechanisms simultaneously, launching a new system and marketplace for retrofit that’s open to existing and new delivery partners.
The project will focus on levers for change that will overcome the barriers to retrofitting homes rapidly and cost effectively.
It will adopt the Demand-Develop-Deploy structure to achieve a new retrofit system. BRE will lead the Develop stream of work, which will focus on kits-of-parts retrofit solutions and defining interoperability standards, streamlining accreditation routes, and prototyping products to cost effectively meet demand.
BRE will be working with MTC (Manufacturing Technology Centre), KIN Architects, Ultraframe, Tata Steel, Bow Tie Construction and VundaHaus, as well as with project leaders EnergieSprong UK.
The London Boroughs of Barking & Dagenham and Hammersmith & Fulham are also partners in the project. They will provide expertise in retrofit planning and resident engagement and benefit from better data on their housing portfolio to develop pre-qualified pipelines, as well as a new contracting approach for kit-of-parts to enable rapid volume delivery.
Other named housing stakeholders include Places for People, Southern Housing and Clarion each with extensive property portfolios and sustainability targets who see the benefits of scaling retrofit to improve the energy efficiency of homes and comfort for their residents.
Social housing is the primary target for the initial 18-month Transform-ER project, which starts on 1 April 2024. Deployment approaches, products, accreditation processes, and pipeline development tools will be developed concurrently, with the project enabling the required cooperation between these parts.
This will result in a new retrofit system being developed and tested, ready to launch by the close of the project in 2025. This system will be expanded to serve commercial buildings and private owners once it is embedded, and the developed tools and solutions are proven.
