The low carbon economy and the need to retrofit Britain’s existing buildings were two recurring themes at this years’ Ecobuild exhibition in London’s Earls Court. Ella Taylor found out why, plus how young people in dungarees could be reading Vogue Retrofit in the future.
The most entertaining guest of the bustling three-day free event was surely London Mayor Boris Johnson. Announcing plans for a retrofit academy in the capital, he described his vision that it would produce more than one “enthusiastic young – or perhaps not young – person in dungarees” who could help citizens to improve the efficiency of their homes.
Describing the changes that City Hall has made to cut its carbon emissions, Mr Johnson raised laughs from the audience when he said that typing in his office at night had to be done wildly, with much gesticulation, to activate the movement sensors and stop the lights from switching off.
However, when he was asked by an audience member whether London would be joining the EU’s renewable energy supergrid, the mayor said that he did not know about the project, which hopes to use offshore wind from the North Sea, solar glare in the Sahara and other natural resources across Europe to power an EU-wide energy grid. His environmental advisor, Isobel Dedring, said that they were looking into options to become involved, perhaps using the London underground system to help with funding, as she said that the city could not feasibly generate much renewable energy.
Popular guests
The most charismatic – and popular – guest was probably Kevin McCloud of Grand Designs. The arena overflowed with crowds to watch him, BBC journalist Kirsty Lang and UK Green Building Council chief executive Paul King discuss refurbishment, with many peering through gauze panels behind the stage and squeezing into gaps at the sides to watch.
When asked how the topic of retrofitting could be made sexier, Mr McCloud suggested that a Vogue Retrofit magazine should be published, “to sit on the top shelf between FHM and Homes and Gardens”.
The other two panellists agreed that a cultural change was needed to make refurbishments popular, and to make having a non-insulated loft as socially unacceptable as drink driving. Mr King pointed out that “fuel bills will only go one way” and that if households are having an extension built anyway, it should become natural to insulate the cavity walls or loft, or double glaze the windows, while the builders are in.
He accepted that rented homes were challenging for this area, especially with the current increased demand for renting rather than buying. But he pointed out that a survey by the Energy Saving Trust found that the second question asked by people looking to rent a property was commonly about the cost of bills, so it could be in landlords’ interests to retrofit.
The idea of a personal carbon allowance was brought up, with the panel and audience members agreeing that households actively using less energy should be financially rewarded, and those that use more than average should be charged. However Mr King said that most people are not ready for it, as many have no idea of their energy use. This needs to change first, they said.
MP Joan Ruddock, parliamentary under secretary for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, also focused her address on retrofitting rather than new building. Referring, as the majority of talks inevitably did, to the economic recession, she said that the DECC’s Act on CO2 campaign recently had its slogan tweaked to “save energy, save money, act on CO2”. She said that the carbon calculator on the campaign website had had 1.3m hits, with 70% of those who used it stating that they wanted to take action.
She described the Government’s plans to provide long-term loans to all households to fund the cost of refurbishing the UK’s housing stock. The loans will be linked to properties rather than individuals, and will be paid back from the money saved on energy bills. If a home is sold before the loan is fully repaid, the loan will also be sold, along with the potential energy savings.
Information exchange
But the most well informed guests were arguably those leading the tens of seminars, chatting to people on their stands and milling around the two vast halls, exchanging information, tips, advice and contacts. The thousands of people at the event were taken by many as evidence that the low carbon movement, and the industry, is growing.
“Today, green building is on everyone's minds: and is already starting to show promising results,” said housing minister Margaret Beckett, in a speech on the second day. “The threat of climate change hasn't gone away just because the economic context has changed. The costs of saving this challenge for another day, when the economy has recovered, are far greater than the costs of acting now. In fact, the longer we wait, the higher the ultimate cost.”
Quest Construction Marketing exhibited at Ecobuild for the first time and was inundated with companies asking for advice. It said: “It was invigorating to learn, direct from the horse’s mouth, about the plethora of new products and companies currently in development – these people have a real passion for what they are planning to unleash into the world and opportunities abound for small companies. Those with good, innovative ideas will flourish in this time of potential… the pace is definitely picking up and our advice to anyone with a bright idea is to commence development and promotion as soon as you can or you may just miss the boat.”
Duncan Ecob, urban design project director at Devereaux Architects and chairman of the Urban Design Group spoke at a seminar entitled ‘Tomorrow’s towns are all eco towns’. He likened eco towns to coconuts, as they have been on an exciting journey, are hard to crack, but are interesting on the inside. He pointed out that in Germany, eco towns are often four storey flats, and asked whether they should look like city buildings or like something different.
Keith Mitchell, partner at Brett Associates LLP, discussed the idea of transport in eco towns. While transport emissions are not included in the zero carbon targets for eco towns, the target is to reduce transport emissions by 50-80%, and to prioritise non-car use.
So the challenge of eco towns, he said, is to make not owning a car possible, by prioritising walking, cycling and public transport, while making driving unattractive and expensive. Car-free zones of around 5,000 homes had been introduced in the new town of Marston Vale in Bedfordshire, with cars are parked around the outside of the area and charged a high parking fee.
Mr Mitchell suggested that offices could be built for remote workers from different companies, so that people do not have to commute to work, but have the social office environment. He suggested that attracting people early on to become champions of eco towns could be a great way to influence others and begin to reverse the UK’s car-dependent culture.
Another seminar discussed the title ‘Onsite or offsite: the sustainable energy challenge’. Jules Sanderson, manager of the building in use division at Fulcrum Consulting, suggested that a community energy fund should be included in government plans for building a zero carbon future, to encourage efficient building.
David Weatherall of the Energy Saving Trust pointed out that its research Microgeneration – yes in my back yard found that most people see no problem with their current heating, they are unfamiliar with microgeneration and often have negative experiences of it if they are familiar, all of which are barriers to the progression of on-site renewable energy.
Bill Dunster, principal of the ZEDfactory, which built the zero carbon house and LandARK on display at the exhibition, said that we could get 70% of homes to Code for Sustainable Homes level six without much trouble.
He suggested that cities like London could pipe in biomethane produced from cleaned farm waste, as they are usually ill placed to generate renewable energy on-site.
Bringing homes up to the zero carbon equivalent only costs more because nobody’s doing it, he claimed, adding that if more people did it, the economies of scale would kick in, so it would only cost about 5-7% more than building a standard building regulations home, a message echoed by Margaret Beckett as she called for greater development of sustainable technologies.