Three leading British property experts are the brains behind the new project.
‘Research shows Britain has millions of old and cold homes. This makes British citizens poorer as they have to spend more money heating their homes, while experts estimate millions of households live in fuel poverty and cannot afford to heat their home to the temperature needed to keep warm and healthy,’ David Patridge, chairman of Related Argent said. ‘Retrofitting British homes to reach net zero is estimated to cost more than £500bn. But what if we could actually do it much more cheaply?’
And cheaply we can. Alongside David, Joseph Michael Daniels, founder of Project Etopia and Tom Fenton, former chief executive and founder of Veritherm, have helped launch a new tool which uses sensors to measure the energy efficiency of homes before and after retrofitting.
Otherwise known as Senze, the device directly pinpoints the areas of a property that are more prone to heat loss.
Arguably, the invention couldn’t have come at a better time. The latest figures show the UK is home to the highest proportion of old housing stock in Europe with 38% of properties built before 1946 and 78% built before 1980.
What’s more, according to the Office for National (ONS) statistics less than a fifth of England’s homes constructed before 1929 are rated an EPC C.
However trials of Senze have found that some properties can perform better than their EPC ratings. The device has been used in pilot projects in the UK and overseas including Bromford Housing, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, The Church of England, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the New York City Housing Authority, the largest social housing authority and landlord in the United States.
In one trial, a property was discovered to perform a shocking 59% better than its EPC rating – enabling a social landlord to save £25,838 on the cost of unnecessary wall insultation compared to recommendations based on theoretical analysis.
‘Senze is genuinely game-changing British technology as it will enable the UK to tackle this colossal retrofit challenge at pace and scale,’ David added. ‘If the UK government is serious about improving the energy efficiency of Britain’s housing stock at scale, then we need to do it as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.’
The UK government has committed an initial £3.4bn in last year’s Autumn Budget on a three-year Warm Homes Plan, which will improve the energy efficiency of homes in England and Wales and also fund the installation of heat pumps.
Though, if the British government is going to reach its net zero target by 2050, the UK Green Building Council estimates that all of Britain’s 29 million homes will need retrofitting before 2050.
Joseph added: ‘Tackling the retrofit challenge in Britain is like climbing a mountain.
‘However, mountain climbers do not cover the entire length and height of the mountain – they plan the best route to the top weighing up the cost, duration, severity and safety of their trip.
‘By carrying out sweeping remedial works to homes we are in effect climbing the entire length and height of the mountain. Meanwhile the new deadlines to reach EPC C mean private landlords and soon social landlords will have to climb this mountain against the clock.’
Image supplied via David, Joseph and Tom.
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