Blog entries

Kevin McCloud has chosen his winner, but which one is yours?

Darren Shirley — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:04:54 +0100

The judges have met, the awards have taken place, now we can make it public: Henry Steedman, with his film ‘Janet’, has been announced as the winner of the Great British Refurb film competition by Kevin McCloud and the judging panel.

Henry’s film is about a woman who is ‘doing her bit to save the planet’. He has won a fantastic prize of a WWF-UK film commission for the ‘What Wood You Choose’ campaign with a £5,000 budget, as well as further bonuses of cash and camera equipmentRead More...

laughter, wry smiles, contemplation and sheer bafflement

Simon McWhirter — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:48:10 +0100

Well, things looked promising as sat down for our movie shortlisting session.

Darren had made cookies and Yael had the coffee percolating (them being WWF's project leads on the Great British Refurb). We opened our home energy efficiency competition for entries back last year, and despite a cracking promotional programme that saw us get plugs from sources as varied as BAFTA, the Times and a host of film and arts colleges across the country - including one of our project partners, the URead More...

SuperHome under construction

Tina Holt — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:39:16 +0100

Last July, we published Tina’s blog on her eco-refurb project and on some trouble she had with getting planning permission. Now that this is all over, she is back to tell us about her project’s progress.

After many months, we made it through all the necessary hoops (planning permission, building regs and so on) to start work extending and upgrading our chilly 1950’s solid wall house to create a cosy, ultra-low energy home. With the fabuloRead More...

The Green Deal Webinar – Knauf Insulation perspective

Steven Heath — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:00:41 +0100

I recently joined Kevin McCloud and Greg Barker – Minister of State for energy and climate change – for a live webinar in which we were discussing the Green Deal, with the debate fed by questions from you. It was an interesting and stimulating discussion as if the Government gets it right, the Green Deal will not only provide an affordable way to renovate the UK's housing stock and make our homes less energy intensive, but it could also improve their aesthetic appeal, and mitigateRead More...

Afterthought on our webinar

Simon McWhirter — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:46:50 +0100

The premise of our televised online debate between the Energy Minister Greg Barker, Grand Designs front man Kevin McCloud and several leading industry representatives was "The Green Deal: One Year and counting".

So chosen, because for several years the GB Refurb campaign has focussed the lion's share of its energy and resource on what was first the Pay-As-You-Save concept; followed by the variable but similar election manifesto commitments by all the main parties to such a home energyRead More...

dissecting the Green Deal - GBR webinar

Richard Griffiths — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:54:52 +0100

Next week, on 9 November at 2.30pm, Kevin McCloud and Paul King (UK-GBC chief executive), will be joined by Greg Barker – Minister of State for energy and climate change – for a live “webinar” in which they will be dissecting the Green Deal at your dictat.

The webinar will centre around questions submitted by you. As I write this blog, we are still waiting for the Green Deal consultation to be published and as such a great many questions still remain as tRead More...

Pay as You Save – Gentoo’s story

Craig Gunn — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:16:52 +0100

Next year – after the UK Energy Bill is granted Royal Assent– there should be a finance mechanism by which homeowners could get energy efficiency measures – like insulation and heating systems – installed in their homes without paying any upfront costs. They will make repayments through the resultant savings to their energy bill savings. This mechanism is called Pay as You Save (PAYS) and is the central tenet of the Green Deal.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change initiated Read More...

Energy Bill is still inadequate

Darren Shirley — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 09:55:49 +0100

The Energy Bill has finished its passage through the House of Commons today. It is still inadequate. The Bill, which now goes back to the Lords, will not ensure that the Green Deal, the Government’s flagship energy efficiency policy, is taken up.

At present, the Bill will fail to deliver emission reductions under the Green Deal unless further incentives are put in place. Improving energy efficiency is a win-win for everyone in terms of lower home fuel bills and carbon emisRead More...

Green Deal should not be the only game in town

Richard Griffiths — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 08:46:24 +0100

Just before today's Report Stage of the Energy Bill, it is a good time to look at where we are in the progress towards the Green Deal launching in the Autumn of next year.

Government officials repeatedly state that we are still on track, and that the consultation on the Green Deal will – as promised – be launched in October. From an outsider’s point of view, it still seems as if there are a lot of unknown policy details which will have to be resolved in a short spaceRead More...

How to spend a Bank Holiday

anna whitehead — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 09:41:27 +0100

Undeterred by overcast and showery skies, I joined the GBR expert panel at Start@Kew and I have to say, I really enjoyed the day!

Along with my fellow panellists, John Doggart, from Sustainable Energy Academy & Russell Smith from Parity Projects, we faced a good range of questions both from the audience attending the Event, as well as questions submitted from GBR supporters via this website. Topics included the steps people can take to improve the efficiency of rented homes,Read More...

GBR live expert panel in Start@Kew

Lauren Stern — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 08:45:29 +0100

Start is an initiative inspired by HRH The Prince of Wales which aims to reach out to as many people as possible with the message that sustainability is something that everyone can be part of and - like every great journey - can 'start' with a single step.

Our festival later this month, between 25-29 August, Start@Kew, is intended to inspire visitors with simple sustainable living ideas that they can get started on right now. We hope that it will have a spirit of entertainment, discRead More...

Improved quality of life anchors my job schizophrenia

Simon McWhirter — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:07:18 +0100

When filling out an application form recently I felt somewhat discombobulated when it came to the 'occupation' entry. Property developer or environmental campaigner? Environmental campaigner or property developer? They don't at first glance seem to marry particularly well. But they do, thankfully. Absolutely and utterly.

So to explain. Half my working week is spent in managing campaigns such as this, the Great British Refurb (GBR), the thrust of which is to make it easy, affordable anRead More...

It is ok to render or insulate – but not so easy to do both!

Tina Holt — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:51:22 +0100

Aside from wanting to carry out a low energy refurbishment for environmental reasons, we also wanted the benefits of living in a comfortable and healthy house with low heating bills.

We are using passive house principles to get as close as we can to the passive house standard for retrofit (EnerPHit). To do this, we'll need super-insulation throughout and to make the house as air tight as possible. Next will come the installation of a ventilation system with heat recovery tRead More...

Energy Bill delayed – time to deal with Green Deal failings

Darren Shirley — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 13:41:14 +0100

The Energy Bill has been delayed. Ministers will now have the opportunity to correct the inadequacies with the Green Deal that will cause the UK to fail to meet its emissions targets under the Climate Change Act.

On the 30th June the Committee on Climate Change published its third progress report on meeting the carbon reduction targets. Further analysis on the Governments Green Deal carried out by WWF has shown that the UK will fall short in meeting the legally binding carbon budgetRead More...

Solid wall insulation: the solutions are out there, but make sure you ask the experts

Neil Marshall — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 08:45:29 +0100

It is common knowledge these days that our homes produce over a quarter of the UK's carbon emissions and for the past 15 years Government, industry and local authorities have struggled to enthuse people to reduce those emissions. Why? Because the key to reducing emissions is to reduce the amount of energy a home needs to stay warm and well lit and let's face it; that is just not that exciting. Unfortunately, with the impacts of climate change and higher energy prices knocking on our door the Read More...

A full day for Kevin and the GBR team

Zoe Leader — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 09:43:28 +0100

Last Monday was an exciting day for the team at the Great British Refurb Campaign with our front man, Kevin McCloud, waxing lyrical to both policy-makers and the public all in one day!

The day began in the sumptuous setting of the Royal Society opposite St James' Park where DECC were holding their one day conference on The Big Society and the Green Deal. As I met with house builders, local authority officers and community representatives ahead of the opening speeches theRead More...

English rivers feeling the heat

Rose Timlett — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Here is the another water blog by Rose Timlett, WWF's policy officer on water.

Late last month, we enjoyed our first barbeque of the year on the unfortunately-yellowing Common outside our flat. This may seem late as we've already enjoyed some glorious weather. March was unusually warm, there were few April showers, and by May, gardens were in full bloom, tricked by the sunshine to show their wares early. The Met Office has confirmed that in the south and east of England, this has been Read More...

Green-up your Property for World Environment says Thinkinsulation.com

Lydia Sharples — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 09:50:24 +0100

With World Environment Day having gotten us all thinking last weekend, Lydia Sharples of energy saving advice website Thinkinsulation.com discusses why consumers must act now to future-proof their homes. Here she offers her own expert hints and tips about how to get your property brimming with energy efficiency features and maximise the savings made on your household energy bills long after you’ve made energy efficiency improvements to your home.

As household fuel bills continue Read More...

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...

Living with a Retrofit House...

chris priest — Mon, 16 May 2011 00:00:00 +0100

In my first blogpost, I described the work we had done in our Bristol Victorian Semi and our experience of Refit West and Bristol Green Doors. This time, I'm looking at what its like to live there, and what we learnt through the whole process.

In general, I've been very pleased with the new home. Through the winter, the house was a comfortable even temperature with the heating on relatively low, resulting in substantially reduced gas use. Through the spring, the solar thermal has giRead More...