Retrofit innovation in the UK social housing sector

Swan, Will

Abstract

The sustainable retrofit of the domestic stock has been identified as one of the major ways to drive the UK's transition to a low-carbon economy. New systems and products to better insulate our homes, generate energy and control how we use it; all represent opportunities to improve the energy performance of the domestic stock. However, when we consider the sustainable retrofit of our homes, it is not just a question of technical innovation; we are dealing with complex systems where social and technical elements combine. Using examples from the social housing sector, we can see that, by understanding these interrelated social, technical and regulatory factors that surround domestic retrofit, we may need to think about different ways of bringing new products and processes into people's homes. We consider examples of innovation and assess the implications for the retrofit of the wider domestic stock.

Citation

Swan, W. Retrofit innovation in the UK social housing sector. In W. Swan, & P. Brown (Eds.), Retrofitting the Built Environment. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118273463.ch4

• Online Publication Date: Aug 16, 2013
• Deposit Date: Aug 1, 2023
• Publisher: Wiley
• Book Title: Retrofitting the Built Environment
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118273463.ch4