LCBE project wins at 2021 Housing Awards

The Welsh School of Architecture have worked together with Swansea Council to significantly reduce energy bills and carbon emissions, whilst improving the condition of some of their homes. The project has won a 2021 Welsh Housing Award in the Excellence in Housing Innovation category.

Six off mains gas bungalows in Swansea have been transformed into highly energy efficient ‘Homes as Power Stations’ generating and storing their own energy and providing substantial energy savings for the residents. The homes are now more comfortable and attractive and the lessons learned are informing a wider debate around stock retrofitting challenges, vital to meet net zero carbon targets.

The Welsh Housing Awards 2021 took place on the 30th September, recognising and celebrating the creativity, passion, and innovation of housing organisations and individuals across the sector in Wales. The Excellence in Housing Innovation award category aims to reward programmes or projects which can clearly demonstrate how they have developed an innovative approach which has made a real difference to the lives of tenants and customers.

Project lead Dr Jo Patterson said that ‘working through the whole process from planning, to design through implementation and operation with Swansea Council and the residents has really illustrated how important it is for clear and frequent communication. This ensure that challenges are overcome quickly to enable the systems to work effectively as possible’.

LCBE researcher Emmanouil (Manos) Perisoglou who leads the monitoring and evaluation of the homes said: 'We have gathered information on the built environment, energy use and the technologies before and after the work has been carried out. This information is essential to quantify how low carbon the buildings really are and helps to give confidence to other organisations who are looking to invest in low carbon solutions.'

All shortlisted entries for the Welsh housing awards will also be included in the Good Practice Compendium 2021, featuring the very best achievements of housing professionals in Wales.

To find out more about the Swansea retrofit project and other projects currently being undertaken by LCBE please visit the website.

The LCBE project is part of SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Centre, which is led by Swansea University and part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government, and EPSRC.