Making Barnsbury Mews warmer and greener

Our Barnsbury Mews energy efficiency works are moving quickly and should finish in the next few months. Since the project began in June 2023, we have been working hard to retrofit the least energy efficient buildings on the estate. The works will make these homes warmer, greener, and less costly to heat.

Why was this needed?

The starting point was energy performance assessments of all our properties that gave 63 homes on Barnsbury Mews an unacceptable D-rating.

Government guidance says C should be the minimum for a home’s energy performance certificate (EPC). The lower the rating (G is rock bottom), the more power you need to burn to keep warm in cold weather.

While planning the works, and consulting tenants of these 63 homes, we found we could at little extra cost, also upgrade another 18 homes already rated C, mainly by improving insulation in the outside walls.

The importance of cavity wall insulation

One of the key improvements we have been making is cavity wall insulation. This involves filling the gap between a home’s inner and outer walls with insulating material to prevent heat loss.

We used a borescope first to inspect the existing cavities. Inside them we found a lot of material including old fibre insulation, insulation batts, and rubble – which shouldn’t have been there!

Rubble causes cold spots that let heat escape and create draughts.
The rubble has now been carefully removed along with the old insulation.

All brickwork is being repointed to seal it and the cavities filled with far more effective modern grey expanded polystyrene bead insulation.

Loft and ceiling insulation

Homes with lofts are also getting them properly insulated though in some cases we have first needed to fit a loft hatch.

Some Morland Mews and Gissing Walk homes are also getting the benefit of ceiling insulation to garages and sheds directly below them to cut drafts and improve heat retention.

Solar panels

Some Pugin Court homes, though not part of our retrofitting works, have also had loft hatches installed to let us assess the roof support structure before installing solar photovoltaic panels on the roof.

The energy generated from these panels will power air to air source heat pumps for five much harder-to-heat homes lower down in Pugin Court.

These pumps extract heat from the air to provide both heating and cooling, so significantly cut the need to use gas or electric-powered heating.

Better ventilation for a healthier home

We often forget the very important matter of ventilation. To improve air quality and cut the risk of damp and mould all homes need to be well ventilated. This means having a way for moist air to escape, and with it hundreds of tiny droplets of water.

We have therefore been improving ventilation in the homes getting better insulation by putting decentralised mechanical extract ventilation systems in ‘wet rooms’, namely kitchens, bathrooms and cloakrooms.

We are also testing ventilation in other homes where these systems have been installed recently to check the airflow in them meets the essential standards for ventilation set out in Part F of the Building Regulations.

Another part of our strategy for better ventilation will be to trim roughly 10mm from internal doors so air can flow freely between rooms when doors are closed. This will let the mechanical ventilation system work properly.

We know this may cause some concern but it means we will meet the government’s standard for good ventilation, keeps the home energy-efficient and it stops damp and mould forming.

Managing disruption during works

The obvious downside to all of these activities has been noise, disruption and dust, from some of the retrofit measures especially.

Contractor Purdy Contracts Ltd has been doing its best to keep disturbance to a minimum and we apologise sincerely for any and all inconvenience caused by these essential improvements.

We will soon have finished the most intensive work. The full project is well on track to be finished by autumn.

Heating controls

We know a few of you have had problems with the new heating controls. We are looking into this to see how we can make sure they are working properly and that proper instructions have been provided on how to use them.

Any questions?

If you have any questions, please get in touch.

Avis Venning, BHA retrofit project manager | 07958 403 052 | avis@barnsbury.org

Nikki Hobbs, Purdy resident liaison officer | 07841 996 301 | nikki.hobbs@purdycontracts.co.uk