The UK faces a huge retrofit challenge, yet progress is slow and efforts risk falling short without strong occupant engagement. Tom Garrigan, executive director at BSRIA, explains how robust evaluation and occupant education are critical to ensuring operational success
It’s no secret that the industry has a challenging road ahead: nearly 29m homes in the UK need upgrades by 2050. A hair-raising figure that, when broken down, means over two homes must undergo retrofit every minute for the next 25 years. This is a daunting task, especially when considering the pace that we’re moving at is nowhere near quick enough.
Evaluating outcomes
The sector recognises that upgrading existing houses is essential for decarbonisation, and enthusiasm for retrofit is only growing. However, despite nearly all (97%) of construction professionals agreeing that occupant behaviour plays a defining role in whether retrofits will deliver operational efficiency, the vast majority are failing to measure or validate outcomes post-handover.
In fact, our recent research revealed that 76% of construction professionals admit that they do not prioritise post-occupancy evaluation (POE), demonstrating that far too many still see the project as complete at handover. However, in reality, retrofit works are only the start of achieving operational success.
POEs are not merely an administrative burden; they are an essential tool. This type of evaluation enables us to gain insights about an array of physical environmental conditions ranked against perception and importance by an occupant.
Acquiring this feedback is one of the only ways that we can ensure that retrofit work matches design intent – and that the systems introduced perform in real life.
However, it’s not just about gaining insights. We need to shift our perceptions to make sure we’re engaging with occupants post-retrofit both to ensure performance, but also to educate them.
In fact, recent studies have found that a building’s actual energy performance can diverge from predictions by up to 300%, due to how people use their homes day to day.
This highlights the crucial nature of post-occupancy engagement when it comes to ensuring efficiency long-term. Without bridging this gap both comfort and performance can be quickly eroded, undermining the ambitions of government, the sector and consumers.
The missing link
Retrofit works can only reach their real potential when people know why they have been done and how to operate them. Yet, our research found that more than half of consumers don’t even know what retrofit means, and only a third believe it will lower bills. On top of this, half of consumers surveyed said they are unclear about the impact of retrofit upgrades on carbon targets, underscoring the vital need for education.
These findings are, of course, alarming when considering how critical occupant engagement is to ensuring performance. This is particularly the case as we experience a growing shift towards low carbon technologies, such as heat pumps.
Unlike gas boilers, heat pumps run on longer, steadier running cycles and more adaptive control. If residents, who are used to on-demand heating operate heat pumps intermittently or without understanding the controls, efficiency crashes, bills rise and comfort drops.
Therefore, proactively supporting users and providing occupant education must play an integral role in the retrofit journey. When equipped with the knowledge to unlock the potential of new technologies, occupants don’t just avoid pitfalls, they experience the full comfort, quiet and cost benefits that low-carbon systems offer.
Put simply, homeowners are the vital link to ensuring that fabric improvements will actually contribute to achieving net zero, and that our efforts are effective not only at point of installation but for the long-term.
It should go without saying that retrofit is only effective if installations are done by competent professionals. The peril of not doing so is underlined by the recent National Audit Office report into insulation installed under the government’s ECO scheme, which found that almost all required rework to correct major issues such as damp and mould.
Leading by example
With 62% of our sector now favouring retrofit over new builds for rapid decarbonisation, now is time to overhaul our approach to handover and support. An approach that combines thorough product testing, robust diagnostics, data-led feedback and hands-on training for users is the only approach that will ensure design intent matches reality.
It’s this holistic, people-first mindset that will aid us in creating progress and ensuring real world carbon savings that, simultaneously, improve the lives of occupant through wellbeing and reduced energy bills, long after the work is done.
What closes the gap between design ambition and lived reality is not just innovative technology, but evidence, education and guidance that sticks.
Because, ultimately, retrofit is far more than a technical challenge; it’s about supporting people through change. And the actions we take today will determine if our investments deliver tomorrow.
The post Two homes a minute: Transforming retrofit outcomes through education and evaluation appeared first on Planning, Building & Construction Today.
