Wates Living Space is working in partnership with Raven Housing Trust to deliver a 'Retrofit for the Future' project in Surrey, funded by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB).

Funded by the Government for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, the initiative is aimed at improving the efficiency of UK's older housing stock and to meet future targets in the reduction of CO2 emissions and energy use.

Paul Davies, Sustainable Technologies Manager for Wates Living Space, said: "Whilst we have, as an industry, been focusing on increasing energy efficiency standards applicable to new housing, currently little is being done to improve the efficiency of the 26 million existing homes we have. These projects will test how some of the new techniques and technologies can be applied to the homes we currently use.


"We need to find a way to retrofit these new technologies into older homes to ensure we have an opportunity to significantly reducing the UK's carbon footprint."

Wates will work with Raven Housing Trust to install a ground source heat pump, PV, mechanical ventilation heat recovery, solar thermal system and a range of energy efficiency measures to a 1930s property in Redhill. This will significantly improve upon the efficiency of the residents’ existing heating system, saving hundreds of pounds on household bills every year.

All retrofit projects will act as a demonstrator house which will be monitored by the Energy Saving Trust for a minimum of two years and assessed for potential large scale implementation in the UK's existing social housing stock.

(CD/BMcC)