Greener homes under the spotlight at CoRE conference

The remodelling of a Stoke-on-Trent terraced home to the highest environmentally achievable standards will be among projects in the spotlight at a conference at the new Centre of Refurbishment Excellence (CoRE).

Extensive work was undertaken at the terraced home in St Luke’s Street, Hanley, as part of research into providing energy efficient housing.

The findings will be showcased at a conference at CoRE, in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, on Thursday, 17 May.

Fran Bradshaw, a Partner at Anne Thorne Architects will present a refurbishment project that set out to achieve PassivHaus standards by remodelling the St Luke’s Street house.

Work was carried out to super-insulate the house using natural materials such as wool and to retrofit the home with solar water heating and a heat recovery ventilation system.

While the project was a success, it did not ultimately meet PassivHaus standards as the required levels of air tightness were not achieved.

The St Luke’s Street property was acquired by Stoke-on-Trent City Council and the project was managed by Sanctuary Housing.

The conference will also see the launch of an important research document, commissioned by CoRE, into the future of the home refurbishment sector and will feature high profile speakers from the world of architecture and sustainable building technology.

The report – Fabric First and Refurbishment Excellence: Up-skilling to Deliver the Green Deal and Beyond – will give up to the minute advice to the UK building refurbishment industry as it faces the pressures of delivering greener homes.

Dr Andrew Ainsworth of Room 4 consulting, who undertook the research on behalf of CoRE will join a panel of speakers at the event.

Lynne Sullivan OBE, an expert in sustainable design will be joined by other speakers Stephen Passmore of the Energy Saving Trust, Neil May, Director of the Good Homes Alliance and Ted Miller of E.ON who will speak about the skills needed in a “low carbon world.”