Wednesday 18 April 2012

April Event - Retrofitting as a Sustainable Solution


Richard Quartermaine
This event brought us a five man band with the presentations being kicked off by Richard Quartermaine of Sweett (UK) Ltd. Richard discussed the Green Deal and in particular the practical considerations of undertaking such projects.


Uly Ma's book
Uly Ma then brought a colourful and common sense approach to waste, and in particular highlighted a project case study at the Olympic site. Uly described how the impact of ‘No waste’ management was far more reaching than simply reducing skip hire costs. When also considering the reduction in time and labour, these savings were the equivalent of what multimillion pound construction scheme may wish to achieve through the cost of sales.

Simon Green
Simon Green of Lakehouse was next on. He explained a noticeable trend towards more tenders involving the Green Deal, emphasising that the devil is in the detail. Dr. Terence Lewis, also of Lakehouse, brought case study examples and highlighted the need to engage tenants and to understand the ‘what’s in it for me’. Educating the tenant and behavioural changes were key in his opinion to the Green Deal achieving success.

Finally, Andrew Eagles of Sustainable Homes described a process called Carbon Reduction Options for Housing Managers (CROHM). This process involves understanding your stock’s current energy performance, and providing a detailed assessment of the most cost-effective options for improvement.


The evening was well attended and provoked an interesting debate at the end which carried on through into the networking afterwards.