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Welcome to the NHC Retrofit Planning Tool

Find out what benefits you could bring to your residents if you install particular energy efficiency measures and low-carbon heating across their homes. Exclusive to NHC members, this Retrofit planning tool will enable you to estimate how much carbon your proposed interventions could save, how much it will cost you and how much your residents could potentially save on their fuel bills.

The NHC Retrofit Planning Tool allows you to pick two scenarios to compare findings, enables you to choose from 13 different energy measures and there are 32 different housing set-ups you can select by using the drop down menus.

Access the NHC Retrofit Planning Tool

(Please note: you will be redirected to our member portal ‘MyNHC’. If you are not registered you will be prompted to do so to access the NHC Retrofit Planning Tool.)

Frequently asked questions

ABOUT THE RETROFIT PLANNING TOOL

The NHC Retrofit Planning Tool (“the Tool”) is designed for NHC members to provide a high-level understanding of the scale of the opportunity in terms of CO2e savings, associated capital costs and tenant benefits from installing energy measures.

The Tool provides high-level insight into the retrofit of low carbon measures but will not substitute more detailed whole stock studies that involve desktop analysis and site visits.

The Tool is located within MyNHC, and you will need to log in with your sign in details.

A vital part of the Tool is the ability for users to select housing archetypes which are representative of the housing types within their local area.

There are 32 housing archetypes within the Tool which represent the majority of property types. These can be selected from the drop-down menus on row one.

House, flat and bungalow are the built types and within those types there are different floor areas, wall descriptions and built form. These can be seen from the drop-down menus.

There are 13 energy efficiency measures within the Tool.

The 13 measures are:

Draught Proofing, LED Lighting, loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, TRVs on radiators, cylinder thermostat and insulation, 2 channel programmer on heating, upgraded boiler to A-rated condensing, solar PV, double-glazing and insulated doors, air source heat pump, solid wall insulation, underfloor insulation.

The Tool will adjust the calculation for certain selections, for example, if the archetype selected is solid wall, the Tool will automatically eliminate a cavity wall option.

The Tool includes a ‘Measures by number’ Guide. The 13 measures are grouped across 10 levels so that measures which are most likely to be installed together are grouped into one.

HOW TO USE THE RETROFIT PLANNING TOOL

The Tool allows you to model 3 scenarios on one page moving from left to right for the first scenario, make your selections for number of properties, property type, built form, floor area, wall description.  Then select your preferred Starting Intervention and Target Intervention.  The Tool will then calculate your selected model.

Each housing archetype included in the Tool needs to be defined in terms of property type, built form, total floor area [m2] and wall description. Options are provided through drop-down menus and users select the closest match to their preferred property type.

All of the required data is available through drop-down menus – users select the closest fit to their property type.

The Tool allows for 3 separate searches each time you use it.  Each of the 3 scenarios will be saved while the Tool is open. The Tool will reset to blank when closed down, or if you use the back button.

The 3 scenarios can be totalled at the bottom of the Tool.

If you need further help with using the Tool, please get in touch with us at enquiries@northern-consortium.org.uk

DEFINITIONS WITHIN THE RETROFIT PLANNING TOOL

Users are asked to select a starting measure between 1 and 10 using the ‘Measures by number’ Guide. These are the measures nearest to the current state of the property.

Users are asked to select a target measure between 1 and 10 using the ‘Measure by number’ Guide. This is the level that the property should achieve on completion of the selected works.

The built form can be selected from a drop-down menu and is either mid-terrace, end-terrace, semi-detached or detached.

Wall description can be selected from a drop-down menu and is either cavity wall, solid wall or system built.

There are three options for floor area within the Tool which can be selected from a drop down menu, either 40m2-60m2  or 60 –80m2 or  80m2 –100m2

One of the outputs from the Tool is the Energy Use Saving.  In the example shown here 10938 kWh of energy saved. A kWh equals the amount of energy used by keeping a 1,000 watt appliance running for one hour.

Carbon dioxide equivalence (expressed as tCO2eq) is a quantity that describes, for a given mixture and amount of greenhouse gas, the amount of CO2 that would have the same global warming potential (GWP), when measured over a specified timescale (generally, 100 years).

1 tonne of CO2 could represent.

  • 3 months of heating an average sized flat
  • Manufacturing 1 laptop
  • 199 kilos of beef production

If you require any further assistance please contact us on:

T: 0191 566 1000

E: enquiries@northern-consortium.org.uk