| Planned occupancy | Queenborough - currently a void, likely to be a 4 person family, at least 3 of whom out to work/school on weekdays. Rushenden - single mum with three children. Mother at home throughout the week, children all at school / nursery. |
|---|
| Space heating strategy | Queenborough - provided using a Baxi Ecogen micro CHP system fed using the gas network. Heat will be distributed using radiators, and controlled using programmer, thermostats and TRVs. Given expected heat loss, it is anticipated that when operating, CHP will be producing electricity (1kWe/6kWth). Rushenden - provided using a biomass pellet stove with integral boiler. This replaces the existing back boiler, and will provide very low carbon heat throughout the property using radiators. The system will be controlled using an innovative control system called Wattbox, which learns user occupancy patterns and heating needs. |
|---|
| Water heating strategy | In both properties this will be provided by solar thermal systems with back up provided by the main heating systems described above. There will be no electrical resistance back up. |
|---|
| Fuel strategy | Queenborough - mains gas and electricity, but vast majority of electricity should be generated by the property. Rushenden - biomass pellets and electricity. |
|---|
| Renewable energy strategy | Each property will be supplied with 4.64m2 of solar thermal panels providing renewable heat. Each will also have 1.6kW of PV panels to provide electricity. Renewable heat will also be provided to the Manor Road property using biomass pellets. |
|---|
| Passive Solar strategy | Queenborough - the rear of the property faces due south. Window sizes cannot be optimised and the existing window sizes will remain. Rushenden - rear faces 30 degrees from south towards the east. Therefore will benefit from solar gain without excessive overheating faced by south west - west facing properties. Especially important as there is already a large area of glazing on this south east facade. |
|---|
| Space cooling strategy | Natural ventilation for most of the cooling season, with both properties able to benefit from cross ventilation. MVHR will be provided into both properties, with additional purging as required during periods of excessive heat. |
|---|
| Daylighting strategy | The average daylight factors in both kitchens is already at over 2%, and living rooms and dining rooms over 1.5%. Further daylighting improvement is somewhat hampered by a requirement to maintain window sizes in the untenanted property as it is located in a conservation area. The Manor Road property, which is tenanted, will also maintain its current window shapes and sizes. All living spaces in both properties have a view of the sky over 80% of the floor area. |
|---|
| Ventilation strategy | In the winter, ventilation will be provided by an Appendix Q rated MVHR system, with additional boost facilities to wet rooms / kitchen. Cross ventilation in the summer will be possible through openable windows. |
|---|
| Airtightness strategy | #NAME? |
|---|
| Strategy for minimising thermal bridges | #NAME? |
|---|
| Modelling strategy | The modelling was undertaken using Elmhurst Energy Systems SAP Modelling software for both properties. |
|---|
| Insulation strategy | Rushenden - Application of external insulation to filled cavity wall to achieve a U-value of 0.2W/m2K - Additional mineral wool insulation across joists to achieve roof U-value of 0.1W/m2K - 10mm Ground floor Spacetherm blanket to ground floor to improve U-value from 1.5 to 0.4W/m2K - All glazing to achieve U-value of 1.1W/m2K Queenborough - As above but without external wall insulation and instead internal wall insulation to achieve U-value of 0.25W/m2K |
|---|
| Other relevant retrofit strategies | One of the properties is currently untenanted, the other has tenants. We are going to carry out the works with the tenants in situ to demonstrate how our approach can be much more useful in wider retrofit situations, where it will not always be possible to decant residents. This therefore will require no temporary re-housing costs. We will also be providing full and continued support to residents of both properties once retrofitting is complete, to deal with any issues and problems immediately. We will also be encouraging and assisting with other non-building related low carbon living issues, including 'growing your own' food, and other such lifestyle changes. |
|---|
| Contextual information | This project is an initial test case for a wider retrofit of 1500 homes in Queenborough and Rushenden. Should this project be successful, then we will roll out these solutions, or variations of them, into this number of properties over the next 5-10 years. The reasons why this community has been chosen for this pilot are many. Firstly, as a community in the lowest decile of the population, with many people claiming benefits and unemployment rife, there is extensive fuel poverty in the area, with many chronic health problems too. Furthermore, a recently confirmed masterplan for 2000 new homes did not include the improvement of existing properties to bring them up to the same standard, and therefore it was felt they should be addressed too. |
|---|
