A manufacturer of polymer pipework is highlighting materials specification in the retrofit process as research indicates 20 per cent of UK greenhouse gas emissions come from the quarter of the country's homes and third of its commercial properties built before 1919.
Commissioned by the National Trust, Historic England and a number of other leading property groups, the research indicates that retrofitting historical buildings will help slash carbon emissions in line with net zero targets and generate up to £35 million in economic output each year[1].
Franz Huelle, Head of Technical at REHAU Building Solutions, says: “New plans to bring the UK’s historical buildings up to grade with current energy efficiency standards are a welcome development, but concrete next steps are necessary to realise their undoubted potential.
With the majority of the UK’s building stock already in existence, decarbonising old buildings as well as new will be key to achieving net zero by 2050.
“With many contractors and installers now looking to branch into the retrofit market for the first time, careful consideration must be given to material specification.
There are lots of lesser considered factors here that can impact the overall success and longevity of retrofit projects, and they must be accounted for.
“If we take drinking water pipework as an example, copper has long been the industry standard.
However, polymer pipework has a number of traits that makes it more suited to retrofit projects.
RAUTITAN, for example, can be bent into the desired shape by hand, and does not require welding to be installed, instead making use of our Everloc compression sleeve system.
Also, the pipework doesn’t require O-rings, which allows for simple visual inspection of the joint and ensures that it is leak-tight.”
According to the company, carbon emissions from freight can be reduced by up to 35 per cent by opting for polymer pipework over copper, based on a typical journey from Manchester to London.
Taking the embodied emissions of each project into account, awareness of this factor will be critical to achieving net zero.
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