On Friday 31 July, Cllr Rosy Moore, Deputy Leader of Cambridge City Council, and Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge, visited the council’s Net Zero Retrofit Pilot at Ross Street and Coldham's Grove to see how older council homes are being transformed to become warmer, healthier and more energy efficient for residents.
During the visit, Cllr Moore and Mr Zeichner met with council staff to hear more about the impact of the retrofit programme, which has upgraded homes with a range of energy efficiency and low carbon heating improvements designed to reduce carbon emissions, improve comfort and create healthier living environments.
The pilot forms part of Cambridge City Council's wider programme to decarbonise its council housing stock while helping residents benefit from warmer, healthier and more comfortable homes.
The pilot has delivered whole-house retrofit improvements to 48 council homes. The learning from the project is also now helping to inform the council's wider housing retrofit programme, with funding already secured to improve the energy performance of around a further 370 council homes by 2028, using retrofit solutions appropriate to each property and programme.
Cllr Moore said: "This pilot has shown what's possible when we invest in making existing homes more comfortable to live in and more energy efficient at the same time.
“By working closely with residents throughout the project, we’ve demonstrated how retrofit can improve comfort and health, including addressing issues such as damp and mould, as well as reducing carbon emissions. Just as importantly, the experience gained through this pilot is helping us refine our approach to future retrofit programmes, ensuring we continue to improve quality, resident experience and delivery.”
Mr Zeichner said: "Making homes warmer, healthier and more energy efficient is good for residents and good for the environment. It's encouraging to see Cambridge leading the way with innovative retrofit projects that improve people's quality of life while helping us meet our climate goals.
"It was great to hear directly from the team delivering the project about what has been achieved, the challenges involved in delivering whole-house retrofit and how the lessons learned through this pilot are helping to inform wider housing retrofit programmes”
The visit followed the completion of the main construction phase of the pilot and provided an opportunity to discuss both successes and challenges of delivering whole house retrofit to existing homes. Residents will continue to receive support as they adapt to their upgraded homes, alongside an extended period of monitoring to understand the long-term performance of the improvements.
