In 2008 The Mackintosh Environmental Architecture Research Unit (MEARU) undertook a feasibility study for CUBE Housing Association which investigated upgrade options for the housing stock on the Wyndford estate that would improve thermal efficiency and reduce energy consumption. As well as improvements in insulation levels, the recommendations also included the installation of a district heating system. In the study, MEARU took 5 typical house types from the Wyndford estate and calculated theoretical energy consumption figures for the existing blocks and proposed upgrades with predicted energy loads. A key aim of the 2008 report was to propose methods to enhance thermal comfort and affordability, simultaneously improving health and well- being and minimising, if not eliminating, fuel poverty. MEARU worked with a Quantity Surveyor to evaluate the most cost-effective options- at that point, external insulation was considered prohibitively expensive and therefore was not included in predicted energy calculations. CUBE HA subsequently undertook a series of upgrades to the building fabric and to the heating provision within the residential blocks across the estate.
A comprehensive programme of improvements is now nearly completed and in May 2015 CUBE HA commissioned a further study by MEARU to evaluate the impact of the retrofit upgrade and district heating system on energy use and affordability. This includes an analysis of recent fuel consumption data obtained from the Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) who manage the district heating system on Cube HA’s behalf, to assess the impact of the upgrades on the resident’s fuel bills. This paper reports the initial evaluation of heat energy consumption and highlights the improved energy performance by comparing the ‘before refurbishment’ theoretical energy consumption value with the recorded data provided by SSE. The report also compares the cost per kWh from the ‘before refurbishment’ scenario with the ‘after’ scenario to quantify the resident’s cost savings.

Later phases of the study aim to identify other possible reasons for the energy consumption by a more targeted period of monitoring of residents homes and undertaking survey work to gain qualitative data.