Welcome to the new issue
Hi everyone
The new issue of your fave fortnightly retrofit newsletter is out - just in time for you to sit back and contemplate the approach of the long weekend with a cuppa and a cream egg (other seasonal confectionary is available). And as ever, there's plenty to get stuck into.
In this issue >> heat pump myths busted - impacts of poor insulation - Coventry CC & E.ON partnership - Brum resident retrofit case study - listed and heritage building retrofit - Manchester homes upgraded - Wolverhampton's retrofit boost - heat loss AI tech - upgrade for Boiler Upgrade Scheme - Retrofit Action Week (West Mids) cometh - solar org acquisition - đ RICS new retrofit standard - heat pump help/hindrance - Clean Heat Market Mechanism (CHMM) delay.
That should keep you going over the long weekend - plus all the chocolate. Read on, retrofitters...
đ° News & Opinion
Clean Heat Market Mechanism introduction put back to April 2025 - Installer Online
The Government has announced plans to adjust the Clean Heat Market Mechanism launch from 1 April 2024 to 1 April 2025. The controversial initiative will essentially fine gas and oil boiler manufacturers if they do not sell a percentage of heat pumps compared to their boiler sales. The idea is that this will increase the number of heat pumps installed in the UK and lower heat pump prices. However, some have argued that the CHMM is unfair on traditional boiler manufacturers and could lead to increases in boiler prices if fines are passed onto the installer and end user.
With Theresa Mayâs exit, UK Conservatives face green leadership vacuum â POLITICO
Former Prime Minister Theresa May's announcement that she'll leave Westminster at the election creates a vacancy for a climate leader at the top of the Conservative Party. Nobody is in a rush to apply. The Tories have had a rocky relationship with the environment over their past 14 years in power, but throughout that time some big names have been willing to embrace the fight against climate change.Â
Heat pumps still too expensive, government warned - BBC News
Heat pumps are still too expensive and too few people know about them, the government has been warned. Despite its target, only 55,000 heat pumps were sold in the UK in 2022. Sales must increase dramatically, said the UK's spending watchdog. To meet UK climate change targets, the government wants to install 600,000 low-carbon heat pumps annually by 2028. The government told the BBC it was "helping rather than forcing families to install heat pumps". The National Audit Office (NAO) said ministers were optimistic to think that target could be reached by 2028.
Energy Efficiency - new RICS standard for agents to launch this year | Letting Agent Today
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has launched a new Residential Retrofit Standard in a bid to help the housing industry meet net zero targets. A statement from RICS says: âThis new standard has been developed by a team of experts as a response to a demand for high quality, residential retrofit advice, spurred on by increasingly high energy prices and UK government net-zero targets, and will provide a framework within which RICS members can advise their customers on retrofit options in homes across the UK, in turn supporting the nationwide effort to decarbonise the residential property sector.â
Wickes acquires solar installer - elemental
Wickes Group has acquired a majority stake in solar installations company Solar Fast. The acquisition will enable Wickes to expand its offering into home energy solutions, initially with solar and gas boilers and, in time, air source heat pumps and other services.
City Plumbing launches heat pump kit builder - elemental
City Plumbing has launched an online air source heat pump kit builder, described as the first of its kind for the industry. Found at heatpumpkit.com, the tool helps users identify a heat pump system that is suitable for the home where it is being installed in four simple steps, before building a kit of all the components needed by the heating engineer for correct installation. Developed by City Plumbingâs in-house digital and heat pump technical teams, the tool helps users select a suitable air source heat pump system for a property, with sufficient output based on its heat loss.
Retrofit Action Week 2024
Retrofit Action Week (RAW) West Midlands 2024
Retrofit Action Week West Midlands is coming up in a few weeks - 11th-19th May 2024 to be precise! Everyone's invited to get involved to help speed up delivery of retrofit for the West Midlands area, whatever their role, project or experience. Click through to the listings page (hosted on Zoom Events) to get info and register đ for the online and in-person events and activities hosted by us, our partners and local West Midlands organisations.
All events are FREE to attend. Everyone's invited - whatever their retrofit role, project or experience - âš Info | đŤ Registration.
đ Events
Funding retrofit through carbon credits | SHAP
The first in SHAP's series of âInnovative retrofit finance modelsâ Lunch & Learns (12.00-13.00hrs, Weds 24 April) join Antoine Pellet (Head of Retrofit Credits at HACT) and Jason MacCormick (Director of Sustainability and Decarbonisation at Saffron Housing Trust) who will share the ways in which Retrofit Credits can unlock additional funding in residential retrofit. Click the link to register free.
Birmingham Retrofit Summit 2024 - everyone's invited
Missed out on December's 'Scaling Up' event with Birmingham City Council? No worries! We're bringing you a three-morning online summit (part of West Midlands' Retrofit Action Week) dedicated to supercharging domestic property retrofits across Birmingham. Dive deep into practical skills and supply chain essentials, build strong community engagement, and master project delivery. The jam-packed agenda covers driving ECO4 outcomes, integrating retrofit into business practices, securing future funding, and much more.
âđ˝ Government & Policy
Heat pumps will be cheaper and easier to install - GOV.UK
Heat pumps will be cheaper and easier for families to install as part of changes to the governmentâs Boiler Upgrade Scheme.  Homeowners will have more choice in how they improve their home and will no longer have to install cavity wall or loft insulation to use the scheme, which offers grants of ÂŁ7,500 off the cost of heat pump installation.  Â
𤊠Local/Regional Action
Wolverhampton retrofit housing scheme gets ÂŁ5.1m boost - BBC News
A council has received ÂŁ5.1m in government funding to invest in its retrofit housing scheme. The project, which is already under way, was set up to make homes for council tenants more energy-efficient. So far, 45 have been completed as part of a plan to revamp 85 properties near Bradley Lane in Bradley, with 86 properties set to be improved on the Rough Hills Estate in Ettingshall.
Get involved in West Midlands retrofit >> register đ for a Retrofit Action Week activity
Energy firm embarks on ÂŁ9m contract to retrofit 500 homes | TheBusinessDesk.com
Liverpool-based energy retrofitting specialist Next Energy has signed a ÂŁ9m contract with Manchester City Council that will see energy-efficiency measures installed in 500 homes across Manchester. The contract is a part of the Governmentâs Home Upgrade Grant Phase 2 (HUG2), a scheme designed to improve the energy performance of eligible homes across the UK to meet the national net zero target by 2050.
Next Energy are one of our Partners at Retrofit Action Week (RAW) Greater Manchester over 05-13 October 2024 - come along to one of the events to meet with them - register interest in RAW Greater Manchester
AI firm urges landlords to embrace 'snooping' sensors | landlordzone.co.uk
Landlords in the South West are being encouraged to access technology that detects heat loss, draughts, damp and mould so they can make their properties more energy efficient. AI home retrofit platform Propflo is working with Retrofit West to supply subsidised smart thermal heat loss assessment packages. Once AI-powered Aico Homelink sensors are installed in their properties, information can be accessed remotely after seven days via the Propflo HomeHub. Insights will show the risk levels of damp and mould, while they can also provide information on whether structural or behavioural factors are affecting this.
Heritage 'Retrofit Toolkit' launched by City of London Corporation | Planning, Building & Construction Today
Launched at an event at the Merchant Taylorâs Great Hall, the Retrofit Toolkit aims to enable heritage buildings to be brought up to modern energy efficiency standards. âRetrofitting the Cityâ was co-organised by the City of London Corporation and Purcell (who supported the development of the Retrofit Toolkit) and included speakers from Historic England, as well as individuals involved in leading heritage retrofit schemes in the City, including the London Museum.
Council offers pre-application advice to encourage listed building retrofit works | Bath & North East Somerset Council
Owners and occupiers of listed buildings who are interested in improving the energy efficiency of their property can get early bespoke advice, following the launch of a new pre-application service by Bath & North East Somerset Council. The Service Level 0 pre-application advice service gives owners and occupiers the opportunity to discuss possible measures with the councilâs conservation officer at the initial stages of a potential retrofit project, before they start to prepare more detailed plans.
We cut our energy bills in half with a beautiful home refurb that anyone can do - Birmingham Live
A family have "cut their energy bills by half" while doubling the interior space of their property in an ambitious retrofit scheme. Shivaji Shiva and Magdalen Gorringe have lived in their terraced Bournville property for the past 12 years with their two sons. Concerned about climate change and the rising cost of energy, the family have transformed their home with an energy-saving retrofit scheme.
Want to get involved in West Midlands retrofit? Register đ for a RAW West Midlands event over 11-19 May 2024.
Strategic Energy Partnership â Coventry City Council
Coventry City Council has joined forces with E.ON to launch a pioneering 15-year partnership. The partnership will transform the cityâs approach to carbon reduction whilst helping people save money and boost the local economy. E.ON has become the cityâs new Strategic Energy Partner, a private sector partner who is willing to invest time, resources, expertise and capital to build a cleaner and more sustainable city and drive a new green economy that will bring jobs and skills to the city.
Want to get involved in West Midlands retrofit? Register đ for a RAW West Midlands event over 11-19 May 2024.
đŹ Reports, Research, Guides
Failure to insulate UK homes costing thousands of lives a year, says report | The Guardian
The governmentâs failure to insulate the UKâs cold and leaky homes is costing thousands of lives a year, according to analysis. The report from Greenpeace reveals 58 people have died due to cold homes every day on average during the winter since David Cameronâs Conservative government decided to âcut the green crapâ in 2013 â drastically slashing support for home insulation.
Factcheck: 18 misleading myths about heat pumps - Carbon Brief
Heat pumps significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions from building heat and are the âcentral technology in the global transition to secure and sustainable heatingâ, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Heat pumps are also a mature technology and are very popular in countries such as Norway, Sweden and Finland, where they are the dominant heating technology. For the first time in 2022, heat pumps out-sold gas boilers in the US â and they continued to do so in 2023. Yet, in major economies such as the UK and Germany, heat pumps are the subject of hostile and misleading reporting across many mainstream media outlets. Here, Carbon Brief factchecks 18 of the most common and persistent myths about heat pumps.
đ˘ Media Partner
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