Our latest online seminar was delivered by Prof Sean Smith and Dr Julio Bros-Williamson of the University of Edinburgh.
The journey to net zero is accelerating on many fronts as innovations and data evidence underpin pathways and solutions to address carbon emission reductions. However, some aspects specifically for buildings, large estates and high-density urban areas still require further developments to support mass delivery and deployment. The current sporadic bespoke approach to individual buildings and repeat energy assessments of exactly the same construction is unlikely to harness productive delivery outcomes to meet the now very crucial time period of achieving net zero by target dates.
This short presentation and Q&A discusses the potential for archetype approaches towards retrofit to assist in supporting acceleration, knowledge exchange and evidence based approaches. There are a number of key archetypes of buildings spread across the UK cities and towns which could adopt synergetic solutions to improving energy efficiency and net zero heat and cooling technologies. Maximising evidence based data and R&D outcomes of pre and post works which could then be shared on a national platform across hundreds of thousands of building owners and could significantly accelerate all our net zero journeys. Further benefits from archetype methodologies could include better quality control, reduce specification risks, tailor skills training platforms for retrofit solutions and improve productivity, economic outcomes and primarily support a more coherent energy efficiency and energy cost reduction for building occupants and owners.
The actual “real delivery time” available to deploy retrofit solutions and reach net zero is far less than many imagine. The current pace and methodology of retrofit approach is insufficient to meet the target dates. Archetype retrofit approaches could play a critical role in harnessing pan-UK the capability to get “back on track”.
View the presentation and Q&A in the Livery Climate Action Group YouTube Channel here.