Award-winning Durham architect says Chancellor must get the details right in Budget boost for home insulations
Durham architect Mark Siddall won a string of industry awards this year for creating the North East’s first retrofit Net Zero home. Shepherds Barn in Lanchester is 60 times more draught-proof than a new build needs to be and makes the best possible use of insulation.
Here, Mark reviews Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s budget commitment to spend £6bn this parliament on insulation and boilers and tells Climate Post that while it is great news, the devil may be in the detail…
MARK said: “As an architect, I welcome the shift in the Government’s position and strongly support the decision to introduce an insulation programme. However, I have a number of concerns.
“Whilst the insulation agenda pursues a reduction in energy demand and carbon emissions, it does so at the expense of health and wellbeing living in a property, and this could also lead to moisture damage and mould within a home.
“Only the other day we learned of the little boy, Awaab Ishak, who died from medical issues relating to mould within the house where he lived.
“For health and wellbeing, the first step is to reduce indoor humidity, as a lower humidity helps to control dust mite populations, reducing the incidence of asthma and the risk of mould.
“Therefore, for any insulation measure to be successful, it also needs to be accompanied by an improvement in ventilation and draft-proofing.
“Ideally, we need balanced ventilation.
“What this means is mechanical ventilation with heat recovery.
“Alternatively, we need whole-house mechanical ventilation, which is not as good but could be sufficient.
“Improved draught-proofing is required to reduce discomfort and to help ensure that insulation does not lead to condensation within the building or its construction.
“Only once homes have good-quality fresh air and a high standard of draught-proofing should we be installing insulation.
“As I say, I broadly support the government initiative; however, in the rush to create a political soundbite which reduces energy bills we must not lose sight of the fact that we need homes to be healthy and affordable.”
- Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has pledged £6bn to improve Britain’s housing stock
In his autumn statement, he announced a taskforce would oversee an initiative to insulate homes and upgrade boilers, and would receive extra funding between 2025 and 2028.
He said £6.6bn would be spent during this parliament on energy efficiency, and announced a further £6bn of funding from 2025, “doubling annual investment”.
Mr Hunt said cutting energy bills would ease the cost-of-living crisis, and set a target to reduce the energy consumption of buildings and industry by 15%.
He pointed out: “Over the long term, there is only one way to stop ourselves being at the mercy of international gas prices: energy independence combined with energy efficiency.”
