Southend City Council were very pleased to formally open the Juniper Road retrofit house on the 23rd of November. The house was purchased by SCC housing team to increase our ability to provide social housing to those in need and required some work to bring it up to standard. National funding was sourced to increase the energy efficiency and Catchment to Coast became involved to provide water sustainability measures. In combination, these works have created a truly exemplar example of what measures can be retrofit to make a home more resilient to climate change.
The house includes triple glazing, solar panels, an air source heat pump, external wall insulation, loft insulation and heat capture air vent systems, reducing energy consumption and meaning the house is in the top 0.2% of national homes in terms of energy efficiency. To improve water resilience, permeable paving has been installed on all hard surfaces which also feeds the planting areas. All of the roof water drains into planting areas or into water butts for use in the garden. The road outside has a swale installed capturing water runoff. All of these measures men no rainwater enters local sewer systems, increasing capacity and reducing flood risk. To reduce water use in the property a HydraLoop system has been installed which treats water from the shower and washing machine allowing it to be flushed down the toilet, reduce water use and bills.
A family will move in to the property shortly where the effectiveness of all of the installed measures will be monitored to determine what works well, and what doesn’t, so that local planning policy can be changed and evidence can be gathered and provided to also support national changes, as we look to better prepare ourselves for the impacts of our changing climate.