Retrofitting homes using a ‘healthy’ circular economy process.
In continuation with the Connected Places Catapult 2020 housing program priorities, the following blog explores how retrofitting our homes using a circular economy lens can enable a clean bill of health for occupants. Annalise Johns, Housing Lead for the Connected Places Catapult begins the discussion through this thoughtful piece on building healthy homes for the future.
As the government’s dramatic building reforms go to print, proposals for speeding up the delivery of new homes is once again igniting a flurry of discussion. Meanwhile, the condition of the UK’s existing homes and the need to retrofit all 29 million to be fit for the future, remains unresolved.
The UKs housing stock is the oldest in Europe and common problems among properties include; mould, extreme temperatures, pests, noise and overcrowding. In addition, this housing stock is responsible for 14% of the UK’s annual carbon emissions (not including electricity consumption in homes — currently 6% of UK emissions). Luckily, there is a rich supply of test beds and pilots carried out by SMEs and innovators across the UK’s housing sector producing a growing body of best practice. An example is the latest article from Enhabit discussing the Passivhaus Trust’s research on Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery (MVHR). This research reveals the incorrect mathematics applied in the SAP system, misconstruing (MVHR) use to “airtight” new builds and retrofit, when actually MVHR is adaptable. A great discovery for one of the industry’s on-going debates and proof of the advances we are making.
However, a topic rarely debated across the built environment sector as a whole, is the topic of impacts on occupant health. Insulation and air sealing are two of the most critical interventions performed in energy efficiency upgrades, and yet they introduce highly hazardous chemicals into our homes and the environment. “Some common types of chemicals found in insulation and air-sealing products that are of the greatest concern are halogenated flame retardants, formaldehyde-based binders, isocyanates, and phthalate plasticizers. The health effects of these chemicals include reproductive and developmental impacts, carcinogenicity, and the ability to cause or exacerbate asthma.”
In the NHS Long Term Plan, respiratory disease affects one in five people in England. With 29 million homes to be retrofitted, the built environment sector will be responsible for causing more harm than good. Therefore, non-toxic insulation and air sealing materials in energy efficient upgrades and homes in general needs to become mainstream. Knowledge of these product’s health impacts will protect those in manufacturing, installing for occupants whom prior to COVID-19 spent close to 90% of their lives indoors and are now inside 100% of the time.
As the circular economy gains traction, the use of hazardous chemicals reduced the capability to recycle building materials, as the post-consumer scrap market supply chain still contains these additives in amounts that likely exceed precautionary exposure levels. Not to mention the hazardous release into soil, water and air over time.
“Chemicals that are persistent in the environment can travel long distances and accumulate in people and animals. For example, HBCD was found in indoor dust samples, human tissue and blood, and in birds and animals in remote locations — including polar bears in the Arctic — clearly far from any foam-insulated buildings.”
Progressive actions to reverse this are found in the Healthy Building Network, not-for-profit organisations in the United States. A recent commission created The Quartz Project a remarkable database that provides open access data on building materials such as “composition, environment, and health hazard information on 102 common building products”. Building materials that include for example the following toxins should be avoided at all cost; modified polymer, polyurethanes (sealants), Orthophthalates.
To demonstrate how The Quartz Project works enter ‘polyurethanes’ into the data base and open the section Health Profile.
This astonishing database is very user-friendly and not endorsement free. The Healthy Building Network has responded to the Built Environment sector’s scandalous absence of centralised data on mainstream building materials that actively cause human harm, pollute our environments and contribute to carbon emissions. The Healthy Building Network has since created HomeFree a site that provides building material alternatives. Examples of this include:
- For insulation include fibre glass and cellulose insulation.
- For air-sealing applications, prefoamed materials like foam sealant tapes and Acrylic- based sealant with a low volatile organic compound (VOC).
Moving forward, the lesson is to prevent unnecessary health costs and loss of productivity by removing the source. Below is a model of how to approach retrofitting homes using circular economy mindset.
Conclusion
The pandemic has brought to the fore many weaknesses as well as clear opportunities to build resilience into our economy, our workforce and the health of our planet. The circular economy is the model for resilience needed to embed a transparent process of accountability across suppliers and manufacturers of the built environment sector. German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe coined the phrase ‘less is more’ which aptly clarifies how the circular economy’s process can serve the retrofitting of our homes. Using the example of BIOHM, an insulation made of simply bio-based materials, using Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), producing interior and exterior building materials that can be relocated, recycled, and reused — harm-free.
Increasingly ‘positive innovation, investment and change in the way MMC is used is emerging’ reports Harry Swales of Homes England who reiterates the need to build confidence in its applicability through robust research into its benefits. This is clearly the time to seize the opportunity to introduce an enforced health certification into the performance of homes dictated by the research and innovation demonstrated by the circular economy.
In January 2020, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) called for a new vision of prosperity through a wellbeing economy following the likes of New Zealand, Iceland and Wales where new economic performance indicators align to social progress and sustainable prosperity. Policy makers can no longer point to a lack of evidence on the links between health and wealth, ill health and losses to the economy, and the influence of commercial determinants of health. Newer economic approaches show that the returns on investing in health are even greater than previously believed.
Next steps, here is the retrofit sector’s to do list:
- Mainstream the awareness of chemical content and its impact on health.
- Invest in product innovation, and early adopters to mainstream use of healthier products.
- Educate the workforce in the use of healthier materials.
- Domestic Energy efficiency upgrades need to include an industry binding health certificate.
- As part of the circular economy building fabric passport, include details of the chemical content and impacts to health — or not.
“In moments of crisis, only imagination is more important than knowledge.”
This blog is one in a series and is part of our Future of Housing programme. Find out more about our work in this area by visiting our new Future of Housing knowledge hub.
Our Future of Housing blog series is intended as a platform for open debate. Views expressed are not necessarily those of Connected Places Catapult.
Originally published at https://cp.catapult.org.uk on August 12, 2020.
