Manor Farm Road, St Neots – Before

A 3 bedroom semi-detached home, built in the early 1970’s

• Old, inefficient and sparse cavity wall insulation
• Inadequate levels of loft insulation
• Inefficient old electric storage heaters providing inadequate heating
• Full length window to front with large area of heat loss
• Potential to improve air tightness
• Dated kitchen with inefficient appliances
• No water efficiency measures
• Garden with little encouragement for biodiversity
• Inefficient south facing conservatory causing over heating in summer

After – Improvement measures undertaken:

• The original aluminium framed windows have been removed and replaced
  with high performance double glazed UPVC sealed units.
• The full length window on the front elevation has been replaced with a low
  level wall and a new double glazed window to match the rest of the house.
• The inefficient existing cavity fill in the external walls has been replaced with
  new cavity wall insulation.
• Throughout the inside surface of the external walls, internal insulating
  drylining has been fitted.
• Loft insulation has been laid in accordance with current building regulation
  requirements. To reduce heat loss even further 60mm of spray foam
  insulation has also been applied.
• Replaced the loft hatch with a sealed, insulated fitting, which can be clipped
  down.
• All lighting is now provided by low energy light bulbs (CFLs)
• Space and water heating is provided by a high efficiency gas condensing
  boiler (91.2% efficient), with evacuated tube solar thermal panels located on
  the south facing roof. This is accompanied by full heating controls including a
  programmer, room thermostats and thermostatic radiator valves.
• A domestic energy management system has been incorporated into the
  property, which will adjust the heat output and hot water use and generation,
  allowing optimum use of the heating system and solar thermal hot water.
• New kitchen and bathroom fitted to comply with Decent Homes Standards.
• A dual flush toilet has been fitted along with other water efficiency measures
  such as low flow taps, water efficient shower head and a new 140 litre bath
  (capacity to overflow).
• Internal walls painted throughout with eco-friendly paint.
• Energy efficient kitchen appliances have been installed.
• This property is within 1 in 100 flood risk and measures have been put in
  place to mitigate this. Measures included raising the level of the electric
  sockets to 1m above floor level and replacing the full length window on the
  front elevation with the low level wall and window.
• The driveway has been replaced with a sustainable urban drainage system
  (SUDS) using permeable paving to allow surface water to pass between the
  blocks.
• The gardens have been created and designed to show visitors how they can
  incorporate wildlife into an ordinary back garden with a variety of shrubs
  providing protection, nesting sites, food sources, and flowers to provide
  nectar and pollen.