The Isle of Man Government is running a Retrofit for the Future competition which will see the winner awarded a £5,000 prize with runners up also in line for a £1,000.
The commitment to tackle climate change means the Isle of Man will be net carbon zero by 2050. This will see ambitious targets to reduce emissions across all areas of the Isle of Man. Residential properties are the largest contributor to emissions on the Island, to reduce emissions in this area new and innovative ideas need to be considered and developed.
As the submission deadline of Friday 15 November draws near, Isle of Man residents with architectural backgrounds, studying architecture, building retrofitting expertise or those with a passion for green construction are encouraged to submit designs which could significantly improve the energy performance of an existing Manx home to make it a future-ready house. This could be in the form of drawings and/or models with accompanying written explanation of the key design principles.
Geoffrey Boot MHK, Minister for Environment, Food and Agriculture, commented:
‘We are particularly interested in ideas which tackle Manx stone cottages, Victorian semi or terrace housing and 1970s-style bungalow homes. Current generic solutions including roof, floor and external / internal wall insulation may not be suitable for these properties as it may cause problems such as condensation, change in external character of the buildings, reduction in size of rooms and loss of internal features such as cornicing. Ideas generated from the competition could lead to suitable options to improve the energy efficiency in these properties which will reduce emissions and help tackle climate change.
‘The challenge of significantly improving the energy efficiency of residential buildings is not to be underestimated. The long term goal is to have desirable, warm, affordable homes for life which contribute to ambitious emissions targets.’
Changes to building regulations will improve the energy efficiency in new homes. However, approximately 80% of the homes which are expected to be in use in 2050 have already been built, these existing 40,000 homes will require retrofitting to improve energy efficiency.
The closing date for entries is Friday 15 November 2019 with a winner announced in December 2019.
For more details visit the Energy Efficiency Scheme page or email energysave@gov.im
