Retrofitting our homes and neighbourhoods has intrinsic, multiple benefits, beyond just improvements in energy efficiency and emissions reductions. It exists across the intersections of multiple systems: health and wellbeing, fuel poverty and inequality, local economic recovery, job creation, and community resilience.
We believe that the current ‘retrofit system’ needs to change not only to deliver wider adoption and demand, but also to support a climate transition of the built environment that is democratised, equitable, and just.
We originally set out some framing of the challenges and opportunities in blog posts here, here and here.
If you want to discuss these projects or new opportunities, contact us at [email protected] or [email protected]
<aside> <img src="/icons/arrow-northeast_green.svg" alt="/icons/arrow-northeast_green.svg" width="40px" /> Retrofit is the focus of an ongoing programme of Dm projects across multiple geographies but with a UK focus. We are exploring how civic and collective approaches can enable creating warmer, more comfortable and lower cost homes and more future-ready neighbourhoods.
We believe that many of the challenges lie in non-technical elements — householder and collective participation, appropriate financing, data infrastructures and governance arrangements. We are therefore focusing on the following questions:
Retrofit & ‘Building back better’
The System Challenges to Retrofit
Towards a post-carbon built environment
The Great British Energy Swindle
New Value Flows: Impact modelling and financing neighbourhood retrofit, v0.1