Ayrshire Housing with the Energy Agency and South Ayrshire Council is sponsoring a launch event for a new guide on retrofitting existing housing. This will be held from 11am to 1pm on Wednesday 16 January in the County Buildings, Ayr.
The Scottish Government is directing large amounts of money into this sector in an effort to combat climate change and fuel poverty. The Pebble Trust, supported by SEDA (Scottish Ecological Design Association) and Historic Environment Scotland, has commissioned a guide to help ensure that this effort is as effective and sustainable as possible.
The launch will feature lead author, Chris Morgan of John Gilbert Architects. He will take us through how we can ensure retrofit projects are more effective at saving energy, reduce risks to health and the building itself, and create comfortable and easy to use living spaces. He will be followed by Jim Whiston, Ayrshire Housing, who will tell us how they are trying to go beyond basic requirements when improving their own housing stock. The work is based heavily on BPE (Building Performance Evaluation) studies in which investigators study the actual performance of buildings once built, rather than the calculated predictions routinely used, and the real experience of people within these buildings.