Blog entries tagged Great British Refurb Campaign

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...

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...

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...

The Green Deal in a Green Growth Budget?

Darren Shirley — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:14:59 +0100

It’s that time of year again. Speculation builds on what is going to happen to our taxes, what will happen to fuel duty and then on Budget Day the Government claims the Budget will help the environment.

This year, I’m hoping things will be different. There have been murmurings of change within Treasury. There have been a series of meetings held in Treasury in the last month or two looking at the reform of the taxation system to introduce a means of promoting green Read More...

Property and political pioneers across Offa's Dyke

Simon McWhirter — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 15:16:16 +0100

Linking up government policy and practice can oftentimes be tricky. In the home refurbishment arena, pioneering low energy retrofits are pretty few and far between across the UK and getting them promoted to an appreciative political audience is a thankless task in the high-octane circus that is the media cycle.

To try and reverse this was one of the core reasons for us teaming up with the Old Home SuperHome network. This bunch of eco-frontiersmen have bitten the bullet to do a dRead More...

Cash boost for home improvements?

Darren Shirley — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:50:21 +0100

Success for the Great British Refurb! For the last year we have been calling for the Government to introduce financial incentives such as Stamp Duty or Council Tax rebates for people who improve their home energy efficiency.

This is vital to give the home eco-refurb market a kick start. Yesterday, we received some exciting news via the British media. The Times, Telegraph, and Daily Mail (twice in one day for them!) all wrote about the potential reforms to Stamp Duty being investRead More...

we don’t expect to see curtains moving when the Autumn gales hit the back of the house any more

Emma Rowlstone — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:38:56 +0100

Late last year, Emma won a £1000 worth of Eco- retrofitting of her home. It was part of the 10:10 campaign and Great British Refurb campaign competition. In this blog, Emma tells of her refurbishment experience.

Having a gaping 5 feet wide hole in the front of your house on one of the coldest days of the winter may not sound much fun but when it means a lovely, new, insulated front door then it doesn’t seem so bad. Over three days all the glass in the windows and the back Read More...

What does the Lib-Con Coalition mean for greener homes?

Ellie Austin — Thu, 20 May 2010 09:15:29 +0100

I’m feeling quite positive about the coalition and what it could mean for greener homes in the UK. During the fraught talks on those crucial days post-election as the new coalition was formed, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats had plenty of big issues that they disagreed on, not least of all nuclear power. Despite this, there does seem to be an element of consensus on environmental issues between the parties and they have agreed on policies around a smart grid, renewabRead 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...

Home of the Future showcased at EcoBuild 2010

Will Homoky — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:48:57 +0100

The grand unveiling of our house happened just four weeks after the start of the eco-refurbishments. Representatives of the press, campaign supporters, and competition sponsors joined in with the celebrations at our house, as Campaign Director Simon McWhirter handed us back the keys to our 75% more energy efficient home.

No sooner than Cat and I had spent our first weekend in perfect comfort, I had been whisked over to Earl's Court in London for the 2010 EcoBuild conference. Speaking oRead More...

Eco-Home of the Future unveiled after just 4 weeks

Will Homoky — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:21:20 +0100

It seems like yesterday that Keepmoat workers descended on our home in Bristol, packed up belongings and stripped out old doors and kitchen and bathroom fittings. It's incredible to think of the extent of the refurbishments that have been achieved in such a short time frame - hats off to Keepmoat, SolarCentury and Knauf Insulation for working together to pull it off in such good time!

We had a lot of fun on our first day back in the house, with sponsors, parents, film crews and reporteRead More...

Income, savings and emissions reductions achieved by solar power

Will Homoky — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:18:15 +0100

I remember when generating electricity from the sun seemed closer to science fiction fantasy than a realistic and practical means of micro-energy generation. That was up until yesterday; when I became another homeowner in the UK with the capacity to generate green electricity from an otherwise very ordinary rooftop.

The installation of the Solarcentury 1.92kWp Sunsation, might sound dramatic, but in actual fact, involved just two installers to mount the panels oRead More...

How much insulation does it take to make an eco-home?

Will Homoky — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The refurbishment is well underway at our house in Bristol, which will make it the 10:10 and Great British Refurb Campaign's Home of the Future.

A notable change so far has been the arrival of vast quantities of Knauf Insulation.

Previously, our Victorian house had suspended wooden floors, solid-brick walls and just 50mm of loft insulation, - leaving it poorly equipped to hold-on to the heat we generated. Now 200mm of insulation has been added under the floors, 150mm is beRead More...

First day at Will's house - winner of the Great British Refurb and 10/10 Home of the Future ...

Will Homoky — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

We're really excited about the work starting now; we still couldn't quite believe all the refurbishments were really going to be happening until the builders arrived earlier this week and made a start on things. They plan to be here for 4 weeks, and in that time install extensive insulation, draft exclusion and solar voltaics. Needless to say we've had some sleepless nights in anticipation, thinking over the scale of the changes to come. Catherine and I have been moved into a very nice apartmRead More...

Let's do it!

Nigel Banks — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:33:52 +0100

AECOM is delighted to have been chosen by Keepmoat as their energy consultants for the Great British Refurb campaign’s 10:10 competition. I’ve personally signed up to 10:10, as has AECOM as a business, but signing up is just the beginning of what should be a very rewarding journey.

For me, the 10:10 campaign is all about taking some quite simple actions that collectively will make a big difference ... and the actions on the Great British Refurb Campaign 10:10 competitRead More...

Unseasonal increases

Dane Elliott — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:16:27 +0100

Earlier this month temperatures in Doncaster reached 17 degrees. Normally, I wouldn’t give that a second thought, except we are now in November and the weather folk on TV are calling it ‘unusually high’.

Now, I’m no expert on the science of climate change, so I’m not even going to attempt to make a link between these ‘unusually high’ temperatures and global warming. But, the very reaction of those charged with dispensing our daily weather bulleRead More...

PAYS pilots launched

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:41:52 +0100

The Great British Refurb has been busily telling Government to help consumers make sustainable refurbishment affordable. We have used lots of different methods to get our messages across from petitions to No 10 Downing Street to public forms with political leaders to Parliamentary events with leading MPs. And our message is getting through.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change recently asked the Energy Saving Trust to pilot several innovative finance plans to cover the upfront Read More...

Timing is everything

Dane Elliott — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The old phrase timing is everything couldn’t have rung more true for us at Keepmoat a couple of weeks ago.

For the past two years, we have been quietly getting on with developing our eco-refurbishment product. Working with our partners to test new sustainable methods while trusting old ones, has, we believe, helped us to pioneer what will become an industry growth area in the next couple of years.

And those that know us well will vouch that we seldom shout about what we doRead More...

Action not words is what we need

Stuart Singleton-White — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:56:11 +0100

It’s been a busy few days for the Grand Designs Great British Refurb Campaign. We’ve been rushed off our feet. First, there was the Manchester House refurbishment followed by Kevin McCloud appearing at the Tory Conference to tell them how important a programme of eco-refurbishment is for the UK’s existing house stock. This was accompanied by the Great British Refurb Campaign’s very own Simon McWhirter appearing on the big screen as part of the ManchesRead More...