27th July 2010: Retrofit Works Update

The tenant is now away on holiday, last week she moved a lot of her possessions and furniture into the temporary store and did a tremendous job so that the contractors were left with more than adequate room to manoeuvre.


The kitchen units containing the sink and washing machine space were removed and part of the rear and bathroom walls were found to be damp, this accounts for the musty smell in the cupboard the resident had commented on. Croydon Council attended in the afternoon as arranged to inspect and a way forward was agreed, we are now installing the raised flooring and shall be refitting the units.

The bath was also discussed; consensus of opinion is to leave in it position installing the insulation as planned. When the insulation, underfloor heating and new flooring is completed the bath edge will be lower.


The spacetherm pp was delivered yesterday, an interesting material, it’s worth a look (see picture above).

Rod Selby
Jenner Contractors

Pre-Retrofit Pressure Testing

Results of the air tightness testing gave an average result of 6.0 m³/h.m² - pretty good for a property of this age.
[Please note that this image is from another scheme]

Pre-Retrofit Thermal Imaging

Results of the thermal imaging showing a gerat deal of heat being lost through the windows.

16th July 2010: Storage container

A large storage container was delivered to site for the resident to begin packing away her personal belongings

14th July 2010: Final site inspection

Carried out by scaffolding, roofing and window suppliers and the roving foreman.

2nd June 2010: Floor insulation

It was decided that a practical and cost effective solution to installing the floor insulation would be to install standard sized VIPs panels where possible and 40mm Kingspan phenolic insulation in the left over spaces. This would have negligible affect on the overall u-value and could potentially have a positive affect should bespoke VIPs panels be produced and then found to not fit properly due to inaccuracies in measurements, thus leaving gaps in the floor where no insulation would lie. This solution will also be much more cost-effective than having expensive bespoke panels made. Finally it seemed a much more practical solution on site as it is easy to cut and re-use pieces of phenolic insulation.

22nd April 2010: The design team and technology installers assemble

On the 22nd April the design team and installers met at the property with the resident to carry out further feasibility surveys.

Having all contractors together on site proved to be a very valuable exercise enabling the different specialists to discuss how their equipment would fit together, timings for works and allocation of responsibility for each part of the project. For example the external wall insulation company were able to discuss with the thermodynamic solar energy supplier how the panels could be fixed to the external wall through the insulated wall system and where to locate pipe-runs. Opportunities were identified to reduce the amount of visible pipe-work and co-ordinate the two work programmes saving time as the project develops.

All the works will take place with the resident in-situ. It is recognised that this will be disruptive especially elements such as insulating the floor and some of the internal walls. Throughout the project the resident has been kept fully informed of the proposed works. The day gave her opportunity to meet the different contractors, highlight her concerns and input into the specification for different elements of the works, e.g what window finishes she would like.

Difficult issues such as temporary sanitation and cooking facilities and protection of personal belongings were discussed and solutions reached with full cooperation of the resident.

The team is now moving rapidly forward with the detailed specifications, and works programme.