On May 10th, the Building Centre is launching a new thought-provoking exhibition, Retrofit 23, to spotlight the challenges and benefits of the deep retrofit of residential buildings.
The exhibition is inspired by the urgent need to address residential retrofitting following the government’s urgent commitment to reduce the UK’s energy demand by 15% by 2030, as well as the long-term goal of becoming a net zero economy by 2050.
Retrofit refers to the process of making alterations on an existing building to reduce emissions and enhance energy efficiency. This typically occurs through making buildings both easier to heat and able to retain heat for longer, as well as replacing fossil fuel sources with renewable energy.
Residential retrofitting aims to improve the efficiency of residential homes, and Retrofit23 opens as UK households have seen an exponential increase in energy prices. With electricity prices having risen by up to 66%, and gas bills a staggering 130% between March 2022 –2023, households are struggling to pay their bills amidst the nation’s continued cost-of-living crisis. Retrofitting of homes is a smart and timely solution that can result in lower energy bills as well as address wider issues such as climate change, people's well-being through making homes more energy efficient.
Alongside the social and economic imperative, making existing homes more sustainable through retrofitting will be crucial for the construction industry – and UK government – to fulfil sustainability targets.
Colin Tweedy, CEO, Building Centre said: “The Retrofit 23 Exhibition aims to raise awareness within the industry, central and local government level and within the public on the importance of retrofit to individuals, their community and one of the key challenges of our time - the global climate crisis.”
With Arup as its principal partner, ‘Retrofit 23’: Towards Deep Retrofit of Homes at Scale’ opens its doors to the public on May 10th.
The exhibition showcases examples of retrofit projects from homeowners and social housing providers. Throughout the 5-month exhibition run, there will be weekly talks from leading experts exploring how to tackle the huge challenge of retrofitting our existing housing stock at scale. Also featured is a retrofit product area, as well as videos and audio excerpts about reducing energy use and carbon emissions in retrofitting of homes.
Find out more about Retrofit 23 here.
