Testimonial - Retrofit Delivery

I fully expect this course will benefit my practice hugely going forward and now feel ready to get back into this sector with a fresh set of knowledge and skills.

Stuart Clark

Director - Architect - Passivhaus Designer, Fifteen 10 Architects Ltd

What did you enjoy most about the course?

The course was a good mix of sound theory and good practice, including strategies which work when things don't turn out quite as planned when the building has been opened up..

What is the most useful thing you have learned?

Everyone has to rework their details once the building is opened up. This is normal in retrofit. In some ways its better to have a strategy before you open up and confirm the details when you really know the building, although this is almost always impossible in the real world.

How has this course benefited you?

I came to this course with a great deal of real life experience with deep retrofit projects. I designed one of the TSB Retrofit for the Future projects back in 2008 and have worked on a number of publicly funded Deep Retrofit projects including S_impler for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (\~20 no-fines houses), NEA in halton (\~34 no-fines houses), West Walk for Nottigham City Homes, Energiesprong and Melius Homes (\~30 Cross Wall Houses), SHDF 1 with Nottngham City Homes (\~120 solid wall houses), SHDF 2with One Manchester (~80 no-fines houses). Most of this work was done using SAP as a Design tool, and the performance was nowhere near where it should have been, the same issues kept arising and the industry seemed more interested in making money than a real difference. Disillusioned, I left the sector to work in a different practice where I qualified as a Certified Passivhaus Designer (on another co-action course) Having now set up in practice by myself, this course has given me the confidence in my expertise and experience to look again at the sector. Deep Retrofit is difficult to get right, and there are lots of issues - getting a building to be airtight will be destructive, and I'm not mad to suggest that eaves and verges need to be extended to accommodate EWI. I fully expect this course will benefit my practice hugely going forward and now feel ready to get back into this sector with a fresh set of knowledge and skills to match my extensive experience.