I want to be more sustainable, energy efficiency and have a low carbon design, how can you help?

First you need to establish exactly what your reasons for wanting to be more sustainable are. Is it to reduce your energy bills, lower your carbon footprint, use eco-friendly materials? Or everything?

The key principles of sustainability is to reuse, reduce and recycle.

Once you have established your agenda we can advise on suitable products if you want to only use natural low carbon options and construction methods that either use recycled materials or reusing existing parts of the building rather than sending them to landfill.

If you want to improve the energy performance of your house we can advise on the best and most cost effective solutions. 

If you want to move over to a heat pump we can advise on what is required to make that transition.

I want to reduce my heating bills, what can I do?

Depending on the condition of your existing house, your budget and how long you plan to live in the house (payback period) will most likely influence what the work and costs will be. 

If your home is a 16th century timber framed tudor property it’s more than likely listed and you would be limited with what you could change. You could look at upgrading your heating system to a heat pump to reduce your reliance on gas (carbon fuels). Upgrading or changing insulation may be trickier getting planning approval for.

You may have a limited budget so you would be best placed to have an appraisal of your entire property completed. Based on your budget this assessment would advise what would give you the best return on your investment.

If you’re planning to sell the property in less than 5 years you may not want to invest more money than you will get back.

If you’re interested in moving away from carbon fuels (gas or oil boilers) check out our blog on heat pumps and the boiler upgrade scheme grant available to homeowners.