What are the current and innovative technologies which could help retrofit existing dwellings or otherwise achieve net zero and build in resilience to climate change goals through the built environment at least cost?

Background

Focusing on decarbonising buildings, to consolidate evidence around the potential effects of net zero on the housing stock, housing supply and the housing market.

Next steps

The lead contacts are: Lesley Smith, Senior Principal Research Officer, Analysis, Research and Co-ordination Unit, Analysis and Data Directorate: Lesley.Smith@levellingup.gov.uk and David Hughes, Head of the Chief Scientific Adviser’s office: psChiefScientificAdviser@levellingup.gov.uk.

Source

This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:

DLUHC Areas of research interest GOVUK

Related UKRI funded projects


  • Unlocking whole-building retrofit through virtual modelling and real-world simulation

    Mortar IO is an early-stage software business, founded in 2022, with the mission to enable building energy efficiency retrofits to happen at the greatest speed and scale. Our mission seeks to tackle one of the UK's great...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: MORTAR.IO LTD

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project focuses on whole-building retrofit through virtual modelling and simulation to achieve net zero goals in existing buildings.

  • The London Research and Policy Partnership - London government working together for a fairer, greener and more prosperous city

    National government is committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and the Mayor of London by 2030. But achieving this will mean radical action on retrofitting London's buildings and in particular homes with ...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of London

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project focuses on retrofitting London's buildings for net zero carbon emissions, aligning with the question's goal.

  • Decarbonising your home

    It is widely accepted that to meet UK's Net Zero targets by 2050, we need to significantly reduce carbon emissions. 40% of CO2 emissions are from buildings, with 20% from residential property. The De-carbonisation of e...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: AMBUE LTD

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project focuses on decarbonising existing residential property and provides solutions to deliver retrofit projects efficiently and effectively.

  • STAR

    The project is aimed at generating best practice knowledge of the most effective ways of upgrading existing dwellings so that they are highly energy efficient and affordable to heat, emit less carbon and meet the require...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: BUILDING RESEARCH ESTABLISHMENT LIMITED

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project aims to generate best practice knowledge for upgrading existing dwellings to be energy efficient and affordable, but does not specifically address retrofitting for net zero and resilience to climate change goals.

  • Future Homes

    The Future Homes Project (FHP) is an industry-academic partnership for the delivery of new and existing net zero homes - a significant challenge for the UK and globally. Regulatory change is driving developers and asset ...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project is focused on developing and testing net zero solutions for the housing sector, which aligns with the question's focus on technologies for retrofitting existing dwellings and achieving net zero.

  • SHINE-ZC

    The SHINE-ZC is a compact urban development (defined as having 50m2 dwelling space spread over two floors) comprising of six house and 3 flats that is designed to meet the 2016 draft zero carbon building standards. It wa...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: PS SUSTAINABILITY LIMITED

  • Transforming Housing and Homes for Future Generations

    The housing sector is responsible for around 20% of the country's total carbon emissions and with 80% of the homes that will be occupied in 2050 already built, retrofitting the country's existing housing stock to improve...

    Funded by: AHRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Bath

  • The Active Building Centre Research Programme (ABC RP)

    The ABC is one of the two hubs funded through the Transforming Construction (TC) Industrial Challenge. ABC aims to revolutionise the way the UK designs, manufactures, constructs and operates buildings. The TC challeng...

    Funded by: ISCF

    Lead research organisation: Swansea University

  • Build-up for Net Zero (BUNZ)

    The **BUNZ (Build-Up Net-Zero)** concept creates a new sustainable model for creating desirable net-zero performance-guaranteed new homes, whilst retrofitting existing homes to net zero. Energiesprong UK (ESUK) was set u...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: ENERGIESPRONG UK LIMITED

    Why might this be relevant?

    Addresses the question fully by providing a sustainable model for retrofitting existing homes to net zero and creating new net-zero homes.

  • Enabling a portfolio approach to net zero retrofitting of mortgaged, shared ownership and private rented properties

    According to the ONS, a significant proportion of properties (over 47%) in England are either owned with a mortgage (6.8m) or in the private rented sector (4.8m). There are also 0.2m homes from the social housing sector ...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: PROPFLO LTD