The ten Nottingham City Homes’ houses at West Walk, Sneinton that are undergoing an Energiesprong energy efficiency retrofit, to become ultra-low energy homes, were the focus of two international conferences in October. The conferences were hosted by Energiesprong UK and their two funding partners Transition Zero and Interreg E=0.
Some 50 international partners of Energiesprong gathered in Nottingham to share good practice and discuss the development of the Energiesprong concept. Energiesprong Market Development Teams from the UK, Netherlands, France and Germany were joined by suppliers and housing associations to showcase the Energiesprong approach to housing retrofit and new build.
The Energiesprong approach, pioneered in the Netherlands, upgrades a home with new outside walls and windows, a solar roof, and a state of the art heating system, all in a matter of days. Part of the innovation is how the works are funded. The household pays an ‘Energy plan’, and the landlord receives an on-going income to fund similar works to more homes. The resident has a much more comfortable home, and a flat rate cost for energy, which will not rise significantly when energy bills rise.
As a pilot, the work on the first 10 homes is not yet possible without support and REMOURBAN funding has been used to support this scheme in Nottingham.
Nottingham City Homes (NCH) is a founding member of the UK Energiesprong movement and has been a key member to develop the model so that it can be launched in the UK. NCH are working with UK partners to change the market conditions so that net zero energy housing can become a reality in the UK at an industrial scale and pace thus making them commercially and environmentally attractive. Nottingham City Homes were delighted to show delegates from these two conferences the ongoing works at West Walk to turn the ten pilot homes into ultra-low energy homes and to discuss ideas for future replication.
For further information on Energiesprong and the international conferences - www.energiesprong.uk/energiesprong-into-action