wienerberger and LJMU research project highlights the challenges of delivering social housing upgrades
A unique project to retrofit three houses representing homes built in the 1920s, 1970s and 2010s has highlighted the significant challenges faced by social housing providers when improving efficiency, comfort and affordability across a varied housing stock.
wienerberger UK & Ireland partnered with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) to deliver the architect-designed retrofits, which have then been subject to continuous monitoring to understand their real-world performance. This provides social housing providers and their maintenance partners with unique insights into the performance of housing efficiency upgrades.
The findings, now published in a new report from wienerberger, show one clear message: Retrofit can deliver significant improvements for occupiers – but the results are not the same for every home, and success needs to be measured in more than one way.
Energy demand fell across all three properties, while operational carbon emissions decreased by an average of 85.5%. Annual running costs also fell by an average of 39.2%, once income from exported electricity was included.
However, the results varied considerably between the properties, reinforcing the importance of understanding each home's starting condition and tailoring retrofit measures accordingly.
A living laboratory
The project saw retrofits to three test houses on campus at LJMU using wienerberger’s Renatus retrofit approach and drawing on expertise from its own in-house architect studio.
Developed specifically for social housing providers, Renatus brings together property assessment, data-led surveys and monitoring, design and specification, product supply, inspection, certification, warranty and post-installation support within one coordinated approach.
Improvements were made to the building fabric, external wall insulation, heating and renewable energy systems – all tailored to the individual property. Air source heat pumps were introduced in the 1970s and 2010s properties, while all three homes incorporated solar PV.
Using real-world performance data, experts from the School of Engineering and Built Environment at LJMU evaluated the in-situ performance of the retrofitted properties over an initial 12 month continuous monitoring period – with results published for energy demand, operational carbon emissions, running costs, heat loss, EPC rating improvements and estimated carbon payback.
wienerberger’s report also highlights four key lessons for housing providers as they seek to improve user comfort, cut running costs and reduce carbon emissions.
Delivering improvements
Paul Instrell, chief commercial officer at wienerberger UK & Ireland, writes in the report: “Retrofit is ultimately about improving the quality of people's everyday lives – helping to deliver warm, healthier and more comfortable homes that are more affordable to run.
“But with such a varied housing stock, there is no single ‘typical’ home to tackle. A solid-wall property built almost a century ago is fundamentally different from a post-war cavity-wall home, while a more modern house starts from a very different position again.
“Our research shows that retrofit can deliver significant improvements, but the results are not the same for every home. By monitoring what happens after the work is complete, we can move beyond predicted performance and better understand how retrofit measures perform in practice, including the difference they make to the people living in those homes.”
The project will continue to monitor performance, with further investigation into overheating, occupancy and solar PV performance.
The Retrofit in the Real World report is available to download for free. Visit https://www.wienerberger.co.uk/retrofit-in-the-real-world.html#form for the full findings.
