The UK Centre for Economic & Environmental Development (UK CEED) has launched the Peterborough EnviroCluster Retrofit Project.

It will retrofit a house in Peterborough with innovative solutions making it more sustainable and energy efficient.

It is one of eighty-seven social housing projects across the UK benefiting from a share of £17 million of government funding from the Technology Strategy Boards ‘Retrofit for the Future' competition to test low carbon building technologies in social housing. The property chosen for development in Peterborough is an end-terrace owned by Axiom Housing Association located on Greenham in Bretton.


In Peterborough, a project group was put together by UK CEED and Peterborough City Council with experts from the city's EnviroCluster network of environmental companies. The team includes local building managers, construction consultants, researchers and specialist suppliers.

The project aims to understand and implement best practice retrofitting, which is key to meeting the government's targets on carbon dioxide emissions. The results of the project will be shared on a national level to help show how the UK's current housing stock could be made more energy efficient.

The Peterborough EnviroCluster Retrofit Project will receive £150,000 to demonstrate how deep cuts in carbon emissions can be made through the implementation of exemplary energy efficient measures.

UK CEED Project Manager Gareth Jones said: "This is a fantastic project for Peterborough as it creates an opportunity for businesses in the construction and environmental sectors to come together, collaborate and generate an innovative solution to the problem of energy efficiency in existing housing stock."

The technologies being considered for the Peterborough property include solar thermal heating, a heat recovery unit, and a 'solar porch'.

(CD/BMcC)