Adopting the latest methods of refurbishing houses could put Isos Housing Group right at the heart of the UK's efforts to cut greenhouse gases.

Isos has won a contract from the Government;s Technology Strategy Board (TSB) to come up with an in-depth scheme to refit one of its houses with energy efficient technology as part of the £16m 'Retrofit for the Future' scheme.

The scheme, personally backed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, aims to make a big contribution to the UK's commitment to cut CO2 emissions by 80% over the next 40 years.

With social housing making up 4.5m of the UK's 25m homes, improving the carbon output from them could make a very substantial contribution to the nation's target - as well as any resulting installation work providing jobs for contractors.


The Isos project, aimed at transforming a NomadE5 terraced house in North Shields into a model of energy efficiency, is one of 190 nationwide (13 in the North East) which the TSB will assess to decide which ones to support with funding for full 'retrofits'.

If chosen, the NomadE5 house would then be one of around 100 homes nationwide which would receive a retrofit and become models of how such work would be done in the future.

Kari Best, Business Support Manager for Isos, has found there are almost 400,000 terraced houses in the North East which could potentially benefit from the same kind of retrofit as the Isos 'guinea pig' house in North Shields.

Isos alone owns and manages 564 terraced homes of this type.

A key part of the Retrofit for the Future scheme is Isos establishing a team of experts who the organisation can work with as and when other funding becomes available.

(CD/GK)