Innovation in low-energy residential renovation: UK and France

In both France and the UK, low-energy renovation of housing is an important part of wider climate change mitigation strategy. Policy directed at householders and building professionals aims to increase the number and ambition of low-energy renovations. However, persistent problems exist for delivering genuine energy reductions at scale, including the design–performance gap, which can be understood as a problem for industry related to three factors: knowledge and skills; uncertainty over who has responsibility; and poor communication. This paper reports two case studies, focusing on the practices of innovative construction firms – one in the UK and one in France. The UK case concerns a social housing organisation that developed innovative ways of working and delivered high-quality results at lower than expected costs. The French case study profiles a new start-up company with a co-operative governance structure offering guaranteed performance contracts to clients for its renovation services. Key common themes for these innovative firms are: new configurations of traditional roles and responsibilities on site; new ways of responding to the needs and behaviours of building occupants; and the integration of different feedback mechanisms to provide learning.