About the project

The house...

Retrofit TerraceThe property is located in Bretton, part of Peterborough's new town development drive of the 1970s and 1980s. The property is located at the northerly end of a 4-house, 2-storey terrace running north/south, and the rear and the front of the property face east and west respectively (the left-most property in the picture). The north elevation has a blank gable. The house is a 3-bedroom, 76 m2 property, with Parker Morris floor areas, and dates from around 1980. The property has trenchfill foundations, a concrete ground bearing floor, a timber joist first floor, a trussed rafter roof space, and a concrete tiled roof. There is a cavity wall construction with brick outer leaf, concrete block inner and additional tile hanging to first floor to 3 elevations, and the house is plastered internally.

The property has been retrofitted with low-mid performance double glazed PVCu windows with trickle vents, PVCu fascias and gable barge boards, and has retrofit guttering and down pipes. There is an internal bathroom, with artificial lighting and mechanical extraction. Mechanical extraction is also present to the kitchen. Windows illuminate the internal stairs on the west side along with the kitchen and one bedroom, and the lounge/dining room and 2 bedrooms on the east side. There is a high flush WC, bath and high flow taps, but no shower. The property is served by a retrofitted gas fired balanced flue boiler, with a redundant flue closed off but not insulated, and small radiators with TRVs located on internal walls. There is a large ground floor walk-in store, and 3 other cupboards provide potential for services.

Replicability - This construction repeats in 100-200 properties on the this estate. The menu of interventions proposed apply to most if not all retrofit projects and the methodology of choosing the most appropriate interventions applies to all retrofit projects. This solution draws on established principles and building techniques and the innovation lies with the creation of additional sunspace which can be used as a "bolt-on" solution for a range of dwelling types and tying it in with a range of technologies and control systems aimed at monitoring and communicating energy use.

Gareth Jones (Project Manager)
UK CEED / EnviroCluster
01733 311644 / g.jones@ukceed.org

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