Homes assessed for energy saving potential.

Friday, 15 January 2010 12:17

The five shortlisted homes in the Great British Refurb/1010 Campaign Home of the Future Competition have been announced and assessed for their energy saving potential.

The shortlisted houses are spread across England and represent a good range of different housing types; from a four bedroom detached house just outside Southend, built in 2000, to a two bed Victorian terrace in the middle of Macclesfield.

“What’s so great about this shortlist is that it is representative of the range of different housing type you find across the UK.” said Stuart Singleton-White, Campaign Director of the Great British Refurb Campaign, “All of the houses, whether built in Victorian times or at the start of this century, can take cost effective measures to improve their efficiency and reduce their environmental impact.”

All five of the shortlisted houses have now had comprehensive assessments carried out on them by campaign partners Keepmoat. Working with Keepmoat has been AECOM who completed the energy surveys on each house. In addition each house had an “air test” to establish where the air was leaking through the fabric of the building. And each house was thermally imaged to see where it was losing heat. Reports on each of the five houses will be published on the great British Refurb campaign website soon.

Mark Sopala from Keepmoat said “The houses show the many opportunities for homeowners to improve and save energy within their homes without spending a lot of money. All the houses achieve the 10/10 target for a minimal cost.  This initiative will hopefully highlight some of these and help people see firsthand how investing in creating energy efficiencies in the home will help both the planet and their wallets."

The shortlisted is:

· William Homoky and Catherine Beswick who live in a three bed Victorian semi in Bristol;

· Nathan Collins and Gail Palmer who live in a four bed detached house near Southend, built in 2000;

· Iain and Fiona Smith who live in a four bed 1960’s detached house in Warrington;

· Peter and Emma Rowlstone who live in a three bed 1950’s semi in Bristol; and

· Adrian and Yvonne Crook who live in a two bed Victorian terrace in Macclesfield.

Details of all five shortlisted houses were featured in a recent edition of the Guardian’s g2. You can read more about them and the type of refurbishment measure each house could take by visiting the environment pages of the guardian.co.uk.

One of these five houses will now go forward and receive a full green refurbishment including a major upgrade of its insulation, supplied by campaign partner Knauf Insulation, and the installation of solar PV panels by Solarcentury to enable the house to generate its own electricity. The campaign will be announcing the winning house on 4th February.

But just because one house has won this competition it doesn’t mean the other four have been forgotten. Thanks to the generosity of Keepmoat work will be carried out on the remaining four houses to make sure they reduced their carbon emissions by at least 10 per cent, helping them to meet their 1010 pledge in 2010.

Watch this space for more details on the work we will be doing on these houses and follow the refurbishment of the winning house online.