First partner in brand new Centre for Retrofit unveiled by University of Salford

Construction company United Infrastructure and the University of Salford are pleased to announce a partnership to deliver a full-scale 1930s retrofit property in Energy House 2.0, the world-leading research facility.

It is the first part of an ambitious and vital Centre for Retrofit, which will research ways to best adapt old housing stock to make it more energy efficient and reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. The pioneering initial build will recreate a typical 1930s home to rigorously test and validate cutting-edge retrofit solutions the older UK housing stock. Designed to replicate the architectural and thermal properties of the era, the house will provide a controlled environment for evaluating insulation upgrades, low-carbon heating systems, and smart technologies.

Energy House 2.0 at the University of Salford was opened in 2023 with two large-scale chambers capable of recreating 95% of the world’s weather, with temperatures ranging from -23C to 51C, as well as solar gain, wind, rain, and snow. In Chamber 1 there are two new build homes which have been thoroughly tested and improved. However, the UK has some of the oldest housing stock in Europe, with 65% of homes built before 1990. To have maximum impact the team at Salford want to create more traditional housing types in the second chamber, to research ways that these older homes could be made more energy efficient.

80% of the UK homes we will inhabit in 2050 are already standing, and the houses in our current facility represent only 21% of UK housing stock. By building two more houses, the team will be able to more than double the scope of our research through innovation and testing on houses that will represent nearly half of our housing stock.

The aim of the project is to provide solutions to industry, homeowners and communities, with verified solutions, including no cost or low-cost options, to enable people to continue to live comfortable lives as we head to Net Zero. Generous £600k funding for the Centre for Retrofit has come from the Garfield Weston Foundation.

Professor William Swan, Director of Energy House Labs at the University of Salford, said: “The UK Government will be investing more than £13b in retrofit over the coming

years. It is essential we get this right if we are to address issues such as net zero and fuel poverty. We feel the development of a Centre for Retrofit at Salford builds on our track record of giving real data to householders, industry, policymakers as to what works.”

As lead delivery partner, United Infrastructure, a leading provider of solutions for the UK’s critical infrastructure, will oversee the construction and integration of retrofit technologies. The Company’s extensive expertise in sustainable development will be key to ensuring the build meets both technical and environmental performance targets.

The collaboration was formalised through a joint agreement brokered between the Energy House 2.0 team, led by Professor William Swan, and the United Infrastructure team, led by Keith Rimmer, Strategic Development Director.  This partnership marks a significant milestone in industry-academic cooperation to address the UK’s retrofit challenge.

Keith Rimmer, Strategic Development Director at United Infrastructure, commented: “This project is a vital step in tackling the retrofit challenge. By replicating a 1930s home within Energy House 2.0, we can generate robust data to inform scalable solutions for millions of similar homes across the UK.”

Professor Swan added: “Energy House 2.0 was designed to enable exactly this kind of collaboration. Working with United Infrastructure allows us to bring real-world construction expertise into a controlled research environment, helping us accelerate the development of retrofit strategies that are both practical and impactful.”

Construction of the retrofit property is scheduled to begin in the coming months, with testing and analysis to follow.

Salford offers a postgrad MSc in Sustainable Buildings, designed to build relevant professional knowledge. This accredited course will enable you to explore industry-tested methods for modelling energy efficiency, designing low carbon retrofit solutions, undertaking performance gap analysis, evaluating and specifying smart solutions. You will be taught by industry experts and have access to Energy House 2.0 and other world class facilities as part of your studies.