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ROOFING, CLADDING & INSULATION
Decarbonisation through retrofit
The Insulation Manfacturers Association offers advice to local authorities and housing associations on meeting decarbonisation targets through retrofitting.
Examples of retrofitting insulation in existing buildings [Taken from page 18 of the IMA’s Insulation for Sustainability A Guide]
H
eating our homes contributes around 17% of the total UK carbon emissions, which is why retrofitting housing is a crucial part of our mammoth task towards the net zero 2050 target. Many buildings in the UK are simply not up to the high energy efficiency standards necessary and as a result, it is widely accepted that the UK must embark upon a comprehensive retrofit programme of the existing housing stock if it is to achieve net zero carbon by 2050, as well as the other stated targets expected to be achieved along the way. In general, homes in the UK are considerably older than elsewhere in Europe, with 5.8 million built before 1919 and more than half built before the initial insulation requirements were introduced to the Building Regulations in 1965. As a result, many homes lose heat through poor and inefficient building fabric, which encompasses a wide variety of construction
methods and materials. Many homes are also in poor and varying states of repair, so as a result, there is no simple, one-size-fitsall solution to retrofit the housing stock.
Part L updates Updates to Part L of the Building Regulations for England have recently been published, outlining the new standards required for energy efficiency of buildings in England from 15th June 2022 (Scottish and Welsh new energy efficiency updates will also follow later this year). From 2025, all new homes and other buildings are expected to be ‘net zero ready’, which means they will need to be built to ultra-high levels of energy efficiency with heating demand similar to that of the Passivhaus Standard (15-20 kWh/m2/year). Unfortunately however, there is little in the latest update for improvements to existing buildings. The Government is expecting the energy performance of existing homes to
be upgraded by 2035, with all homes raised to an Energy Performance Certificate of at least C where “practical, affordable and cost-effective”. This will require more than 15 million homes in England alone, to be upgraded over the next 13 years. Whilst the recently published Heat and Building Strategy expands on the detail of heat in buildings, there is rather less on improving energy efficiency,
Breakdown of energy consumption in existing homes (CCC Housing Fit for the Future?) [Taken from page 17 of the IMA’s Insulation for Sustainability A Guide]
