University research partnership is helping to make UK homes better for tenants

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“Poor thermal comfort is not a lifestyle choice.”

How retrofitting social housing stock is getting a technology driven boost from a University research partnership

Making homes better places to live is what Professor Mike Riley, Director of the School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment and his team at Liverpool John Moores University’s ‘Living Laboratory for the Construction Industry’ is tackling.

It’s a real-world project that has seen three terrace houses from the 1920s, 1970s and 2010s built on its Liverpool campus. To find out more, Peter Haddock visited the project and spent time with Professor Mike.

Mike: “Homes are complex systems where a building's fabric, services and occupant behaviour all interact. Treating a house as ‘a machine for living in’ means understanding the whole ecosystem before prescribing solutions.

And this is what our two year project is all about. It goes to the heart of one of the UK’s biggest challenges: how we make our existing homes warmer, healthier and fit for net zero.

“By partnering with BRE and building envelope specialist wienerberger we have built houses that broadly represent the reality of the UK housing stock. They have then been upgraded using wienerberger’s Renatus system, and we have filled them full of sensors.

“Together with a research grade weather station, mounted on the roof, the sensors allow our team to capture detailed, real-world data across multiple climatic cycles.

“With around 80% of the homes we’ll be living in by 2030 already existing today, and nearly a third of the UK’s 27 million properties still sit below EPC C. New build matters, but retrofit at scale is where the real challenge and opportunity lies.

“By capturing data, we can isolate and measure the impact of individual interventions, from external wall insulation and brick slips to roof upgrades, solar panels and low carbon heating.

“Crucially, this work is designed to help social housing providers make better decisions with limited budgets. For example, if you’ve got a fixed amount of money, using our data can help you learn what’s the best thing to do. As we think that the answer should be driven by science, not assumptions.”

“This is the kind of research that turns retrofit from good intention into real impact. When the data is robust, the models are proven, and the outcomes are clear, that’s when we can genuinely improve lives and keep people warm, affordably and sustainably.”

#socialhousing #retrofit #retrofitsolutions #LJMU #energyperformance
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Constructii Civile
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