RETROFIT

Retrofit

Not all thermal upgrades are equal. Work with us to discover where best to spend your budget and make a real impact.

When embarking on a renovation project, there is a lot to consider. Balancing aspirations, budget and the refurbishment needs of the property is not a simple task.


Our dedicated refurbishment offering allows you to clearly identify and prioritise different areas of work to and best understand the cost and carbon impacts of the choices you’ll make at each stage; allowing you to mitigate risk and make confident decisions.

Existing Property Heat Loss Measurements


This service is for existing properties that are embarking on their sustainability journey.


It may be that you are considering thermal improvements and want to best understand your starting point. It may also be that you’d prefer to avoid thermal improvements and would like to understand if a heat pump is feasible at your property without the costs and upheaval of insulation upgrades.

During a site visit, our engineers will test the air leakage, and wall u-values, set up monitoring devices, and take meter readings to allow us to establish the properties heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and peak heat load (over a three-week period).


For this service to be effective external temperatures need to be c.10°C or lower.

Building Fabric Risk Assessment


Ahead of retrofit projects, it’s important to identify & plan to mitigate against the potential risks associated with the building’s fabric—walls, floors, roofs, windows, and doors—before implementing energy-efficient upgrades.


Our survey will identify the existing fabric build-ups for accurate heat loss modelling later on and provide a prioritised pre-retrofit recommendations report.

Key Considerations in Building Fabric Risk Assessments Include:

Moisture Management

Evaluating risks related to condensation, dampness, and mould that could affect both new and existing building elements.

Thermal Bridging

Identifying and addressing areas where heat transfer might bypass insulation, reducing overall efficiency and create an increased risk of mould and damp.

Ventilation

Ensuring that retrofitting measures do not adversely affect air quality and ventilation, which are crucial for occupant health and comfort.

Pre-Retrofit Maintenance Works

A prioritised list of maintenance work which would need to take place before thermal upgrades.

Heritage Risk Assessment


Due to their age and listed status, some properties require a little more TLC.


This package includes heritage factors into the consideration on the pre-retrofit survey recommendations and is suitable for properties built before 1920. The report can be used to support your Architect in their discussions with English Heritage.


Thermal Imaging


A thermal imaging survey is a useful addition to highlight areas of air ingress, thermal bridging and risk of interstitial condensation and mould growth. It is also very useful to help understand if insulation has been installed correctly or if cavity wall insulation has failed.


This is most effective when a property is heated and the temperature outside is lower than c.10°C, we would only advise under these conditions.

Insulation Optimisation


The intelligent way to approach any building design project is to focus initially on what improvements can be made to the fabric.


This can be challenging because not all parts of the building fabric are created equal. To spend limited project budgets wisely, it’s worth investigating what improvements make the greatest impact.


We can help you prioritise improvements using our in-house software to better understand the relative cost benefits. Where practical, the team will determine insulation levels in every facet of the building, including walls, roofing, and flooring, as well as potential window upgrades, to compare capital costs against running cost savings.

Post Occupancy Heat Loss Measurements


This service is for new build properties or newly completed retrofits.


We know that there is often a shortfall between what is designed and what is achieved from a building fabric performance standpoint. Our comprehensive survey allows you to assess the as-built performance of the building fabric to best understand if the project goals have been met.


During a site visit our engineers will test air leakage, wall u-values, set up monitoring devices and take meter readings to allow us to establish the properties heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and peak heat load (over a three-week period).


For this service to be effective external temperatures need to be c.10°C or lower.

To discuss your low-energy and sustainable retrofit project, please don't hesitate to get in touch

Latest Insights

by Doug Johnson 24 March 2025
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by Doug Johnson 24 March 2025
Offsite housing specialists TALO and building performance consultants Mesh Energy have announced a collaboration agreement to accelerate the delivery of ultra-low energy homes. The collaboration will combine TALO’s advanced timber superstructure technology from Finland with Mesh’s experience of providing net zero building performance and engineering services for housebuilders, architects and residential property developers. Working closely together, TALO and Mesh will aim to significantly increase the energy efficiency of new homes for market sale, rent and affordable housing, exceeding both Passivhaus energy standards and Future Homes standards, in compliance with the latest regulations. Doug Johnson, Director of Mesh Energy: “TALO’s timber superstructure solutions for low rise housing are the very best we have seen in the UK in terms of energy efficiency, air tightness, cost and quality. Their latest projects are achieving at least a 30 per cent improvement on Passivhaus energy standards and at no cost premium. We don’t believe there is anything like this on the market today and yet it is very needed. Some of the biggest issues facing housebuilders and developers are managing risk and addressing skills shortages. TALO’s system addresses both of these challenges extremely well. New regulation is coming which will make it increasingly difficult for developers to balance the rising cost of building new homes to the required energy and air tightness standards and the risk of non-compliance. New homes simply need to perform better. And yet the risk for developers is in the fabric and performance of each home. Our new collaboration will give housebuilders the benefit of much greater certainty of delivery to the required quality, air tightness and energy standards from the inception of a project. Our work on the energy strategy, data and compliance will support TALO’s extremely efficient way of building new homes to reduce risk for residential property developers.” TALO and Mesh have already collaborated on a number of projects. Under the new agreement, both businesses can leverage their respective experience to enhance the efficiency and economics of new residential projects. Dr Anthony Greer, Corporate Strategy Director of TALO said: "Our vision is to transform UK housebuilding by taking proven technology which has been used to build thousands of units in the Nordics – in one of the most extreme climates in the world. Our goal is to address some of the difficult problems that have been challenging the UK construction industry for many years – skills shortages, speed of delivery, sub-standard quality, and poor energy efficiency. Our ultimate goal is the offsite construction of high quality, ultra-low energy homes that can eradicate fuel poverty and snagging. By radically reducing time on site, developers can achieve a faster return on investment. They need fewer trades on site because we are using highly efficient offsite technology. Our processes are entirely dry – from forest to site – which means better air tightness performance and more accurate programme scheduling for the fitout phase to further reduce risk. Homes built by TALO exceed Passivhaus energy and air tightness standards at no cost impediment. This means homeowners and tenants will have hugely reduced energy costs that are verified by A-rated EPC certifications. Our housebuilding solutions will be enhanced with our collaboration with Mesh, helping to solve the technical and economic challenges that are constraining the sector and compounding the housing and cost of living crises.” In the new arrangement, Mesh will provide the energy strategy, data analysis and compliance work to support TALO’s delivery of the offsite superstructures for low-rise housing projects – which range from terraced housing, semi-detached family homes and larger executive schemes for developers and housebuilders across the UK.
by Pablo Jiménez-Moreno 29 April 2024
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