Retrofitting the Future.
Footsteps will be speaking as part of this Birmingham Friends of the Earth panel discussion on retrofitting, home insulation and how communities can take action.
The UK has some of the worst household insulation in Europe and Birmingham is an area where this is particularly bad. Join us on Monday 20 February in person at the Warehouse Cafe or online to find out how retrofitting and home insulation is critical in the fight against fuel poverty and climate change.
We will be joined by a range of speakers and there will be a chance to ask questions. There will also be an opportunity to network both in person and online and discuss how we can take urgent action to ensure everyone has a warm home.
The event is free, but please register, to help plan for numbers, or to receive the Zoom link if you are joining online.
Register for Warm Homes We can All Afford
Chris Martin from Footsteps will speak about our Energy Champions project, including our flash cards which can be used to identify the issues and next steps involved in tackling retrofit and home insulation. The cards highlight the range of situations encountered, beginning with simple, low cost measures like putting foil behind radiators to full house retrofit costing £10,000s. Chris will also be drawing on his and his wife Harriet’s own experience of complete house retrofit and also touch on other aspects of the Footsteps Energy Champion project.
Sample flash cards will be distributed and a booklet with all the retrofit and insulation cards will be available afterwards form the Footsteps Energy Champion website. As part of the presentation, Footsteps’ member, Toqueer Quyyam, will comment on the use of the cards in disadvantaged areas of the city.
Other speakers include:
Shajidur Rahman, Retrofit Project Manager. Shaz works as a Retrofit Project Manager on funded schemes for the energy company E.On. He has worked in the industry for well over ten years. He is also a director of Community Energy Birmingham, an energy co-op which has put solar panels on community buildings. Finally, Shaz has volunteered with Birmingham Friends of the Earth for over a decade and is currently on the Board of Directors.
Retrofit Balsall Health – Abbas Shah is from an architectural background with a special interest in sustainability. He is active in the inter-faith network and part of the chaplaincy volunteer team at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. He was project manager for Balsall Heath Nature Map.
Birmingham Friends of the Earth – Gilbert Sekelani is an active community campaigner and a Birmingham Friends of the Earth volunteer. He has been actively campaigning on the Birmingham United for Warm Homes campaign.
Acocks Greener – Marta Jacyniuk-Lloyd