We want to see a resilient housing stock that can cope with climate change and help people live comfortable and affordable lifestyles. The majority of the homes we will be living in by 2050 have already been built. Therefore it is essential that we start to retrofit and adapt our existing homes as they were built with a different climate in mind. Sutton is projected to see some of the most dramatic climate change impacts in the UK. The key impacts are flooding, water stress and overheating.
Current projects
One Planet Sutton is currently involved in the following projects. However we would like to see more, so if you have retrofitted your home or have an idea to help others retrofit their homes, please get in touch.
Pay As You Save / Green Deal Finance
Pay As You Save offers a potential way to finance a massive retrofit of the UK housing stock. Sutton Council, B&Q and BioRegional are working in partnership to trial a pilot of this scheme.
How it works
The idea is that householders can obtain a loan to cover the upfront costs of retrofitting their home. There is then an obligation to repay this over 25 years – but repayments are calculated to be less than the savings made on fuel bills. Eventually, the aim is that at change of tenure the benefit of the measures and the obligation to pay is transferred to the new householder. The idea behind this pilot is that the repayment is collected by the local authority and upfront costs are moderately subsidised to encourage mass take up.
The Trial
To be eligible for the scheme you'll need to own your house and be willing to significantly improve its efficiency. At present, this scheme is currently oversubscribed. However if there are opportunities in the future, they will be advertised on this site.
Retrofit For The Future
Click here to visit our Retrofit for the Future blog for this project.
This project involves the retrofit of three social houses in Sutton. In partnership with Sutton Housing Partnership and Parity Projects, BioRegional have designed interventions for three near identical homes on the St Helier estate in Sutton. House 1 has a behaviour change programme only. House 2 incorporates a decent homes upgrade (boiler and loft insulation) with behaviour change programme. House 3 is a full One Planet makeover, a deep energy retrofit using low impact building materials combined with behaviour change designed to achieve approximately 80% reduction in carbon emissions. This project will test how low carbon technology can make existing properties more energy efficient, shaping best practice and informing future housing policy. It is funded by the Technology Strategy Board’s Retrofit for the Future competition.
