Housing retrofit: Improving thermal performance without changing traditional brickwork

Home Projects Housing retrofit: Improving thermal performance

Project at a glance

Unique pilot project

In 2024, we completed a unique pilot project for our social housing customer, L&Q Group, to deliver new external wall insulation for homes at Urban Drive in Trafford as part of the Government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) Wave 2.1.

We first installed it on two homes, and our solution included a render system that was coloured and tinted to create a traditional brickwork effect. This was then shown to Local Authority planning officers for sign off before we rolled out the system across a further 18 homes.

Energy efficiency retrofit

Service: Energy efficiency retrofit
Funding: Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) Wave 2.1
Number of Homes: 20
Property Types: Semi-detached or terraces of three
Solution: Brick-work effect external wall insulation
Products: Structherm Art Brick
Original EPC: D – F
New EPC: C
U-value Achieved: 0.28 W/m²K
Contract partners: Osmosis ACD, Retrofit Assessors & Coordinators, Thomas Niamh Contracting, Rendering Contractor, Structherm Ltd EWI System

Creating a unique solution

L&Q’s homes at Urban Drive were originally built with a nine-inch red-brick exterior with period features, an aesthetic that is consistent for all homes on the street.

Our customer needed us to create an external wall insulation (EWI) system that would improve building efficiency by upgrading thermal performance, but would also complement the street’s aesthetic, which is close to a conservation area.

Our solution, therefore, needed to meet the General Permitted Development Order requirements of the EWI materials being of a similar appearance to those used in the original construction.

A special solution

To retain the homes’ exterior finish, we worked with Structherm Ltd to develop a PAS2035-compliant solution that would give the appearance of the red brick. This included a render system, comprising a Struc-ArtBrick-Rend-M EWI system, an advanced resin topcoat to create the traditional brickwork hue to colour-match the street view. The flat coat render system was applied and then manually applied to create the brickwork effect.

Structherm’s ArtBrick solution was evaluated by our Retrofit Designer, Osmosis ACD, and was assessed as thermally improving the wall U-value to approximately 0.28 W/m²K. This lowered the heat demand on the homes and contributing to an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) improvement to the target C rating.

This solution was first installed on two homes at Urban Drive and was subsequently inspected by the Local Authority. Praised for our attention to detail, we secured the approval of the planning officers and continued this technique across all the homes. The nature of this work required confidence and trust from residents, which was helped significantly by the pilot homes. Once residents saw the render system installed, they could see the quality of the work and were happy to have their home retrofitted.

A robust ventilation strategy

Improving energy efficiency, in most cases, means improving air tightness of homes. As such, we must always review a home’s ventilation strategy to ensure we aren’t creating any damp and mould issues because of our work. At Urban Drive we fitted dMEV extractor fans to wet rooms, trickle vents to all other rooms and ensured a 10mm gap in all doors to ensure air circulation around the properties.

Further Retrofit work for L&Q in Trafford

As part of our full £4m SHDF contract with L&Q, we also delivered cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and new windows and doors for 75 properties in Stretford. This internal work has also included new fans to ensure adequate ventilation to the properties. With the contract beginning in March 2023 and due for completion in March 2025, we are supporting L&Q on its journey to Net Zero Carbon, working with them to find the best and most efficient ways to improve the energy efficiency of their homes in line with government targets.