Alan Road, design concept by Ark Design & Architecture
A consultancy focusing on the built environment and sustainability
I advise home owners on suitable retrofit measures to help meet climate change targets, reduce outgoings, and improve comfort in the home. Please get in touch if you would like to talk through options for your particular situation. This advice has included the now cancelled Green Homes Grant for householders, although other funds remain. These include the new Great British Insulation Scheme (formerly ECO+) funding launched last autumn. Do get in touch if you would like to discuss your ideas.
"Your report was very useful, tailored to our questions and it was useful to have the in-person discussion as we toured the house. It has given us a very useful inventory of measures that we can take.” Semi-detached house owner, Didsbury, 2022
"Julian has known about my cold terrace house for many years and secured an ECO grant for a gas boiler replacement in 2018. He advised me that I could get further help from Lancashire’s Local Authority Delivery Scheme in 2022. This has resulted in a programme of internal wall insulation, improved loft insulation in a previously inaccessible space, TRVs on all radiators, a new energy efficient front door, and a ventilation strategy, While the scheme doesn’t cover all of the outside walls because of obstructions, I am hoping that it will make a significant improvement to how I can cope through next winter both in terms of comfort and also bills. Fully insulating and ventilating the rear bedroom should deal with a major mould problem. Julian liaised with the surveyors and contractors to maximise the range and impact of the measures and arranged decoration post-works." End terrace owner, Lancaster, 2022.
“Julian has given me peace of mind through the minefield of the Green Homes Grant, checking quotes and technically questioning builders to ensure I got the right spec and price. I am really surprised and pleased with the finished room now the warmest in my house!” Victorian terrace house owner, Didsbury, 2021
In November 2022 I organised and led an interactive discussion for householders in Didsbury, Manchester through the community group People Place Planet Didsbury which I am a member of. Participants shared their experience of their own homes and discussed solutions for carbon reduction and energy saving, and of course increased comfort. I repeated this session in January 2024.
In May 2023 students from Manchester School of Architecture working on a MSA LIVE 23 project visited my house to record it as a retrofit case study for Carbon Coop. A link to their findings will be added.
With extensive experience in managing, refurbishing and extending heritage buildings I completed the AECB CarbonLite Retrofit course in 2020. The course aims to equip participants to undertake advanced energy efficient retrofit and deepen understanding of building physics and the risks associated with measures. Based in Manchester I focus on the built environment and sustainability and in 2018 completed a deep retrofit of a Victorian Semi in South Manchester with calculated reductions of 67% in space heating and 82% in CO2. With the heat pump installation in 2022 these figures will be revised. With a renewable energy tariff the CO2 reduction is notionally 100%.
Earlier work included plans for a complete refit of an extended bungalow at Alan Road involved researching of systems and suppliers of heating and ventilation (with options for Passive Stack, PIV, and MVHR); wood burning stoves; external wall and floor insulation; high performance windows and doors; and solar PV. This followed the successful implementation of energy saving measures at a 1960s detached house at Park Road including roof, wall and floor insulation; high performance windows and doors; a new heating system; and solar PV. In the above projects I have worked alongside architects: Gibson Architects, Phi architects, Ark Design & Architecture, and Marsh Grochowski.
On 24 January 2019 I hosted a session on Thermography, run by Diane Hubbard at my home in South Manchester, outlining the measures taken to reduce energy and CO2. Through Carbon Co-op and with an architect from URBED I organised a two part course in Summer 2015 which was repeated in Autumn 2016 to enable local residents to act as Retrofit Advocates. The training was designed to comply with the Carbon Literacy Standard and all participants were eligible for Carbon Literacy Certificates. Over thirty people visited Alan Road on 25 May 2014 as part of a programme of the Carbon Co-op and Actionable for Sustainable Living open eco-house weekends.
I have also attended seminars on co-housing, energy and elderly people, solar PV, as well as visiting energy efficient houses in Lancaster, London, Manchester and Nottingham. I hosted community workshops, on sustainability and retrofit, and in October 2017 presented at a Carbon Co-op get together at Leaf, Manchester.
In the past eight years I have provided advice on retrofits to householders in London, Nottingham, Stockport and York with a wide range of housing types: Victorian and Edwardian terraces and villas, one converted into flats; interwar semis; a 1970s purpose built flat; and a 1970s terrace.
Much of my past work has concerned improving physical environments, in particular museums and other public spaces, as well as domestically, and this has increasingly involved reducing environmental impacts. My earlier consultancy practice operated from 2007-2010, and chiefly involved projects relating to partnership working, and digitisation in the cultural sector.
Please take a look at the pages on my profile, and on my work and interests in the built environment and virtual environment and do get in touch…
I advise home owners on suitable retrofit measures to help meet climate change targets, reduce outgoings, and improve comfort in the home. Please get in touch if you would like to talk through options for your particular situation. This advice has included the now cancelled Green Homes Grant for householders, although other funds remain. These include the new Great British Insulation Scheme (formerly ECO+) funding launched last autumn. Do get in touch if you would like to discuss your ideas.
"Your report was very useful, tailored to our questions and it was useful to have the in-person discussion as we toured the house. It has given us a very useful inventory of measures that we can take.” Semi-detached house owner, Didsbury, 2022
"Julian has known about my cold terrace house for many years and secured an ECO grant for a gas boiler replacement in 2018. He advised me that I could get further help from Lancashire’s Local Authority Delivery Scheme in 2022. This has resulted in a programme of internal wall insulation, improved loft insulation in a previously inaccessible space, TRVs on all radiators, a new energy efficient front door, and a ventilation strategy, While the scheme doesn’t cover all of the outside walls because of obstructions, I am hoping that it will make a significant improvement to how I can cope through next winter both in terms of comfort and also bills. Fully insulating and ventilating the rear bedroom should deal with a major mould problem. Julian liaised with the surveyors and contractors to maximise the range and impact of the measures and arranged decoration post-works." End terrace owner, Lancaster, 2022.
“Julian has given me peace of mind through the minefield of the Green Homes Grant, checking quotes and technically questioning builders to ensure I got the right spec and price. I am really surprised and pleased with the finished room now the warmest in my house!” Victorian terrace house owner, Didsbury, 2021
In November 2022 I organised and led an interactive discussion for householders in Didsbury, Manchester through the community group People Place Planet Didsbury which I am a member of. Participants shared their experience of their own homes and discussed solutions for carbon reduction and energy saving, and of course increased comfort. I repeated this session in January 2024.
In May 2023 students from Manchester School of Architecture working on a MSA LIVE 23 project visited my house to record it as a retrofit case study for Carbon Coop. A link to their findings will be added.
With extensive experience in managing, refurbishing and extending heritage buildings I completed the AECB CarbonLite Retrofit course in 2020. The course aims to equip participants to undertake advanced energy efficient retrofit and deepen understanding of building physics and the risks associated with measures. Based in Manchester I focus on the built environment and sustainability and in 2018 completed a deep retrofit of a Victorian Semi in South Manchester with calculated reductions of 67% in space heating and 82% in CO2. With the heat pump installation in 2022 these figures will be revised. With a renewable energy tariff the CO2 reduction is notionally 100%.
Earlier work included plans for a complete refit of an extended bungalow at Alan Road involved researching of systems and suppliers of heating and ventilation (with options for Passive Stack, PIV, and MVHR); wood burning stoves; external wall and floor insulation; high performance windows and doors; and solar PV. This followed the successful implementation of energy saving measures at a 1960s detached house at Park Road including roof, wall and floor insulation; high performance windows and doors; a new heating system; and solar PV. In the above projects I have worked alongside architects: Gibson Architects, Phi architects, Ark Design & Architecture, and Marsh Grochowski.
On 24 January 2019 I hosted a session on Thermography, run by Diane Hubbard at my home in South Manchester, outlining the measures taken to reduce energy and CO2. Through Carbon Co-op and with an architect from URBED I organised a two part course in Summer 2015 which was repeated in Autumn 2016 to enable local residents to act as Retrofit Advocates. The training was designed to comply with the Carbon Literacy Standard and all participants were eligible for Carbon Literacy Certificates. Over thirty people visited Alan Road on 25 May 2014 as part of a programme of the Carbon Co-op and Actionable for Sustainable Living open eco-house weekends.
I have also attended seminars on co-housing, energy and elderly people, solar PV, as well as visiting energy efficient houses in Lancaster, London, Manchester and Nottingham. I hosted community workshops, on sustainability and retrofit, and in October 2017 presented at a Carbon Co-op get together at Leaf, Manchester.
In the past eight years I have provided advice on retrofits to householders in London, Nottingham, Stockport and York with a wide range of housing types: Victorian and Edwardian terraces and villas, one converted into flats; interwar semis; a 1970s purpose built flat; and a 1970s terrace.
Much of my past work has concerned improving physical environments, in particular museums and other public spaces, as well as domestically, and this has increasingly involved reducing environmental impacts. My earlier consultancy practice operated from 2007-2010, and chiefly involved projects relating to partnership working, and digitisation in the cultural sector.
Please take a look at the pages on my profile, and on my work and interests in the built environment and virtual environment and do get in touch…
