Evaluating Occupant Wellbeing in Retrofitted Dwellings with the Short Form 36 Questionnaire

Developing Management Guidance for Government Funded Dwelling Retrofit Schemes to Improve Occupant Quality of Life

“…The successful outcome of case study one method using the HSF36 demonstrated that the Arbed two scheme overall had a positive impact on occupant quality of life. What was also clear and demonstrated in the findings [19] was the need to explore stakeholder involvement of the Arbed two project to gather further evidence of the management and delivery processes and whether there were impacts on occupant quality of life. This second stage of empirical data collection is referred to as case study two hereafter with an approach focusing on stakeholders engaged in Government funded dwelling retrofit schemes in the UK.…”

“…Following the findings from the Hybrid Short Form 36 Health Survey (HSF36) on Arbed two occupants and results interpreted using the RAND scoring system [19], and labelled case study one, it was demonstrated the Arbed two occupant responses following retrofit measures, occupants had a more positive result to 'Physical functioning, Role limitations due to physical health, Energy/fatigue, Emotional wellbeing, Social functioning, and General health'. Only their 'Role limitations due to emotional problems' and 'Pain' scored the same when comparing before retrofit measures and after retrofit measures of the Arbed two project.…”

Holistic Dwelling Energy Assessment Protocol for Mine Water District Heat Network

“…Substitution of gas heating with direct electrical heating is currently not an option, as there is insufficient capacity in the electrical generation and distribution grid to meet the demand [9]. In spite of the efforts to improve dwellings in the Arbed 1 to 3 programmes (with circa £110 Million grant funding) estimates by the Welsh Government in 2018 suggest that 23% of households in Wales spend more than 10% of income on energy bills and are thereby considered to be in fuel poverty [4,10]. Many socioeconomic factors contribute to these percentages, however the problem is exacerbated by the age and consequent poor energy performance of much of the housing stock in Wales and indeed the UK as a whole.…”

“…The thermal performance of the majority of the existing housing stock in Wales bears testimony to the quality of construction from pre-1919, and falls far below the minimum currently set by UK building standards in 2019 [1,2]. Since 2010, significant sums of money have been invested to improve energy efficiency and combat fuel poverty in some of the most deprived areas of Wales, by retrofitting thousands of dwellings through the Arbed1, 2 and 3 schemes with exterior wall insulation, roof insulation, new boilers and controls, windows [3,4]. Increasing energy efficiency of older properties remains a significant challenge, which cannot be achieved through insulation and air-tightness interventions alone, particularly when alterations to historically important architectural features of the building are not permitted [5].…”