16 September, 2021
Insulate Britain’s campaign received a boost today as industry experts spoke out in support of the group’s aims.
Insulate Britain, the group behind this week’s rush hour protests on the M25 is a new group demanding that the government gets on with the job of insulating Britain’s 29 million leaky homes, starting with the homes of the poorest families in the country. [1]
Duncan Baker-Brown, FRSA ARB RIBA, founder of BakerBrown Architects and academic at the University of Brighton said
“What a fantastic campaign! At least 80% of our current high energy housing stock will still be around in 2050 without a hope of meeting our government’s commitment to being net zero carbon, unless they are insulated properly to dramatically reduce their energy bills. Compared to capturing carbon, and other high-tech solutions, retrofitting existing homes is easy.
To do this in only 8 years as Insulate Britain demand, is hugely ambitious, but we know what to do. It just needs the commitment of our government to roll-out a coordinated grant-funded national retrofit programme which is just like another infrastructure project, but one that benefits the whole country with training, jobs, and climate resilient homes. And at £35-£60billion, it’s a lot cheaper than HS2!”
Julia Barfield, MBE, RIBA, FRSA, architect and director of Marks Barfield Architects said
“We are in a climate emergency. The world’s top scientists in the IPCC issued a code red warning in August 2021 so we need to act like we are in an emergency. A vital element of this – identified by the UK CCC – is to upgrade and insulate the UK’s leaky homes through a massive national government-funded scheme, ideally by 2030. This will not only reduce carbon emissions but also create thousands of skilled jobs; significantly reduce fuel poverty and protect people from excessive heat as temperatures rise. This is hugely ambitious, so there is no time to lose.”
Earlier in the week, a letter of support for Insulate Britain’s aims was published by Architect’s Declare and Architects Climate Action Network. It said
“Decades of inadequate response and botched programmes have led us to the point where we have a daunting task ahead of us but it is not too late to fix our homes and ensure they are the healthy, climate-resilient buildings we need. Insulate Britain is demanding that this low carbon retrofitting programme is rolled out immediately and completed by 2030. We realise that it would take a huge and coordinated commitment of finances and resources from our government to do this; much like (although a lot less expensive than) their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Insulate Britain campaign is highlighting one aspect of the housing crisis in this country, the warnings have been given and the science is clear, we must act now, any more delay is simply irresponsible. The industry is ready, people are in need and the government must show the leadership necessary in this emergency.”
ENDS
Press contact: 07737 457105
Email: insulatebritainpress@protonmail.com
High quality photos and video footage available here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Kucq-NfhnZLGJWwLx1HX03cWR7M9Y2-m
Website: https://www.insulatebritain.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/insulatebritain
Twitter: https://twitter.com/insulatelove?lang=en
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8N5mAeeCLbD-AFUqtPaF0g
Notes to Editors
[1] About Insulate Britain
Insulate Britain is a new campaign group that is calling on the UK government to put in place policy and funding for a national home insulation programme starting with all social housing.
We demand the Prime Minister and the government to #getonwiththejob, face up to their responsibility and lead our country through the climate crisis.
We are ordinary British citizens with simple and achievable demands to #INSULATEBRITAIN
The UK government must immediately promise to fully fund and take responsibility for the insulation of all social housing in Britain
We demand a national home insulation strategy that gives British people the justice they deserve: a future for our loved ones, lower energy bills and safer living conditions
We are scared: our livelihoods are at risk and the futures of our children are uncertain
The Climate Crisis is a threat to all: we demand the government to act now
Our Demands
1. That the UK government immediately promises to fully fund and take responsibility for the insulation of all social housing in Britain by 2025;
2. That the UK government immediately promises to produce within four months a legally binding national plan to fully fund and take responsibility for the full low-energy and low-carbon whole-house retrofit , with no externalised costs, of all homes in Britain by 2030 as part of a just transition to full decarbonisation of all parts of society and the economy.
Further information about Insulate Britain and our demands here: https://www.insulatebritain.com/
Technical Report on home energy efficiency here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HtOQmArzkDxhIYJrv9lBcl9lOUwfKoe7/view