Plan to insulate homes whole streets at a time (From The Argus)

Plan to insulate homes whole streets at a time

10:44am Thursday 22nd November 2012 in News By Neil Vowles

Southampton Street in Hanover, Brighton may be the first street with insulation on the outside

A forward-thinking architect has come up with a plan to insulate the damp and draughty Victorian homes of Brighton – a whole street at a time.

Green thinking Duncan Baker-Brown is calling on neighbours to come together to have their street insulated in one major project to reduce their carbon emissions by 80%.

And the architect with Cooksbridge-based BBM Sustainable Design says that residents could save 50% on insulation costs if a whole street is wrapped in insulation.

Following a detailed project studying Southampton Street in Brighton, Mr Baker-Brown believes that through “economies of scale” the cost of insulating the house could be reduced from £30,000 to £15,000 per house.

The system works by applying a layer of Polyurethane insulation onto the outside of the building and then adding render over the top, allowing the street to retain its original appearance.

Sustainable design

Mr Baker-Brown, whose firm is currently working on the first house made entirely of waste, says his firm has the expertise to start now.

Previous work by BBM Sustainable Design includes a £150,000 retrofit of a house in Lovers Walk, Brighton, which reduced emissions by 85%.

The project could help homes to hit Government targets to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.

To insulate a whole street an agreement would have to be reached with all the residents in the road before work could begin.

Mr Baker-Brown said: “A lot of people will pay about £1,200 on their energy bill a year but this would take it down to £250.

“With the rate that energy bills are increasing, it could be saving thousands in the near future.”

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said the insulation project would be more suited to the less energy-efficient homes of the private sector rather than council homes.

He added: “We have met Duncan on this and are excited by his work as it seeks to address the big challenge of retrofitting energy efficiency measures into the existing housing stock.”

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