Blog entries from Colin Butfield

Notes from the Radian Retrofit Conference

Colin Butfield — Mon, 23 May 2011 00:00:00 +0100

I spent Friday at the Radian Retrofit Conference. A fantastic event, absolutely jammed to the rafters with well over 350 people all focused on retrofit. Various experts spoke, Chris Huhne laid out his vision for the Green Deal and we all swapped ideas and concerns. However, at the end of the day, I was left with one, big nagging worry.

We were taken through fantastic examples of high quality retrofit including Radian's own Borough Grove and the TSB Retrofit For the Future Project. TheRead More...

Intelligent design might actually make some sense

Colin Butfield — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:43:08 +0100

I had a very fun morning talking about the Great British Refurb to the British Institute of Interior Designers.

A really big turnout for their first ever conference on retrofit showed that this was an issue with momentum amongst interior designers but what really left me feeling enthusiastic was how they just got it. They had clearly seen that if we're going to make home eco retrofit a mainstream thing then somehow we need to inspire people- cost savings and eco credentials alonRead More...

Why forests matter – from Bourne to Borneo

Colin Butfield — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 10:00:11 +0100

As you must have noticed, we almost always focus on energy efficiency. But a truly sustainable house is about more than insulation or PVs. It is about water use (you can read our water blog) and the materials we choose to use. Read Colin’s blog on why forests matter – from Bourne to Borneo

We all use wood and paper in our homes – from doors to garden decking to flooring. But how often do we think about where the wood haRead More...

What is the Deal? and is it green?

Colin Butfield — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 16:19:36 +0100

I talk about insulation a lot. Perhaps I'm just getting older, or geekier or sadder. Perhaps all those are true but its also true that low carbon homes are the hottest environmental topic of the moment, and while insulation is far from the whole picture it is a massive part of it.

The main reason for low carbon housing being front and centre is that after years of campaigning the general consensus is that if we can't make our homes more energy efficient we cant reach ourRead More...

How can you be planning to lobby a government when you don't know who it's going to be?

Colin Butfield — Thu, 06 May 2010 13:48:53 +0100

The election is providing an interesting backdrop to our week at Grand Designs Live. The Great British Refurb campaign is here amongst the solar panels and sliding door exhibits to get thousands of people to support us in lobbying the new government on policies to support a mass low carbon retrofit of UK's homes.

One of the first questions I was asked from a couple who came over to the stand was- 'how can you be planning to lobby a government when you don't know who it's going to be yeRead More...