New Tricks with Old Bricks : Greening our existing building stock

This conference presentation focuses on the work of the need to re-use and retrofit the existing housing stock. It was given to the GreenBuild Expo meeting held in Manchester in June 2009.

The presentation sets out why we need to address the retrofitting of our existing building stock and draws on lessons in reducing carbon emissions from residential housing from other parts of Europe.

It identifies the key challenges to be faced if large-scale retro-fitting is to take place, including short-term thinking, finding the money, identifying the most appropriate whole house technical solution for the various properties (esp. heritage and hard-to-treat), getting resident understanding and buy-in, the shortage of appropriate skills and knowledge in the construction and design industries and setting up the regulatory framework.

It also sets out the current opportunities available to reduce carbon emissions and current government thinking on how to address the challenges faced. It provides examples from Germany and Sweden, as well as UK examples from both urban and rural areas.