Morgan Sindall Property Services and Westminster City Council Unveil Energy Show Home to Help Reduce Carbon Emissions
Pictured left to right: Cllr Matt Noble, Cabinet Member for Climate Action, Regeneration, and Renters at Westminster City Council and Cllr Ryan June, Deputy Cabinet Member, Climate Action & Biodiversity
Westminster City Council has opened the doors to a retrofitted show home, a one-bedroom terraced flat in Queen’s Park, to encourage residents to make their home more energy efficient.
Improvements undertaken to the show home, which were led by Morgan Sindall Property Services and the Council’s housing sustainability team (MSPS) included:
- Internal wall and underfloor insulation
- Thermally efficient windows and doors
- Replacing the gas boiler with an energy-efficient air source heat pump
- Goldeni sensors to monitor wall temperature and humidity
- Changing the gas cooker to an electric hob, eliminating gas use at the property
- Powering the home by solar panels on the roof with battery storage.
Improved insulation, windows, and doors have reduced the home’s use of heating by over half and combined with the air source heat pump, solar panels, and battery storage, are expected to virtually eliminate the need for electricity from the grid. These measures have increased the home’s Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating from D to B.
It is expected that these measures will reduce the home’s energy bills from over £1,000 per year to near zero and will help achieve the council’s goal to achieve net zero carbon emissions, saving 2.5 tonnes of carbon emissions a year. This is the equivalent of a return flight from London to Miami. Currently, all residential buildings are responsible for 15% of Westminster’s carbon emissions.
Tours will be provided by the MSPS team from the July 12 and can be booked through a booking form. Westminster homeowners, landlords and residents are invited to attend to learn about retrofit and understand what support is available to them.
Queen’s Park resident Mrs Narcis, whose home was retrofitted last year, said: “I am very pleased with the insulation and secondary glazing in my home. I’m looking forward to a warmer winter and savings on my energy bills. The team were helpful, friendly, and very polite. They made the work as easy as possible. It was lot of work and some disruption, but it was worthwhile.”
Alan Hayward, Managing Director, Morgan Sindall Property Services said: “We are delighted to be working in collaboration with Westminster City Council on this project, which will contribute to tackling climate change and help to reduce energy bills for residents at a time when energy prices are at an all-time high.
We hope that this project will demonstrate the benefits of retrofitting and showcase the innovative technologies that can help create safer, healthy and sustainable homes. With homes in Westminster contributing to 15% of the area’s total greenhouse gas emissions, we are proud to be working with Westminster City Council to reduce this impact, but also to help tenants to keep their houses warmer and reduce energy demand and costs.”
Cllr Matt Noble, Cabinet Member for Climate Action, Regeneration, and Renters at Westminster City Council, said: “Retrofitting is the way forward to make our homes more energy-efficient and to save money on household bills.
We understand the uncertainty residents feel about getting any work done to their property, however, these measures are a really impactful step forward towards having a more comfortable home and will help reduce energy bills which we hope will be of comfort to residents during the cost of living crisis. These improvements will also hugely reduce carbon emissions.
I encourage residents to take a look at this show home to see how it is possible to make energy-efficient changes and to see how beneficial retrofitting is.”
The show home has been retrofitted with support from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, as part of the Council’s efforts to retrofit social housing estates. The Council retrofitted 100 Council homes in the last financial year and will retrofit more than 350 this year. Council tenants who are eligible for retrofitting will be invited directly to visit the show home.
ENDS
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