Curated by Dr Lucy Bullivant Hon FRIBA
Supported by the Alan Baxter Foundation
Join us for a lively, engaging and informative symposium to explore how retrofitting improvements to homes and community buildings in London and across the UK have tremendous scope to tackle fuel poverty and health priorities—across all tenures.
This inaugural event launches a new programme dedicated to the Museum’s vision of a just transition in the face of the climate emergency. This is an insightful deep dive into how interdisciplinary strategies and regenerative design are advancing to bring about decarbonised, distinctive and robust solutions for quality of life.
Learn from debates and presentations pinpointing sound, innovative problem-solving mindsets and processes, including bespoke, adaptive methods and community energy plans for sustainable neighbourhood living. These embrace a range of property archetypes and scales, alongside emerging community retrofit models that shift the focus from fixing buildings to empowering people.
We will discuss how retrofitting delivery can be speeded up while simultaneously improving outcomes, and foster a rounded awareness of retrofit as a resilient, ‘whole systems’ approach—one that builds authentic neighbourhood character and supports a sense of place and belonging.
Graphic created as part of the Healthy Homes Hub project for Hackney, a scalable, low-carbon, regenerative retrofit toolkit for high streets, by Connie Pidsley, Adam Dudley-Mallick and team as Part II students, London School of Architecture, a pilot commissioned by the Built Environment Trust, 2023. Courtesy of Connie Pidsley.
Retrofitting social homes: checking in on progress and vital next steps
Session and Q&A
Chair:
Lucy Bullivant, curator, ‘Retrofit Works’, Founding Director, Lucy Bullivant & Associates
Panellists:
Paul Karakusevic, architect and Principal, Karakusevic Carson Architects, London
Tania Jennings, Net Zero Carbon Manager, Lewisham Council, Chair, Local Energy Officers, and Emerging Policies Lead, Don’t Waste Buildings
Power on: empowering residents through community energy
Session and Q&A
Chair:
Arthur Kay, Trustee, Museum of the Home, Professor of Practice, UCL, Institute for Global Prosperity; Board Member, Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng); Transport for London
Panellists:
Afsheen Kabir Rashid MBE, CEO, Repowering London
Jason Powell, Head of Operations, Hackney Light and Power, Hackney Council
Dan Epstein, Co-founder, Stokey Energy, London
Jonathan Atkinson, Co-founder, People Powered Retrofit/Carbon Co-op, Manchester
Dan Edelstyn, artist and co-founder, Power Station and Optimistic Foundation CIC, London
Decarbonising housing: why it matters, the innovation bottleneck and the tactics to overcome the obstacles
Session and Q&A
Chair: Arthur Kay
Panellist:
Emaad Damda, architect and Associate, Tuckey Design Studio
Lunch will be provided
During the break, we invite you to continue conversations and explore the Museum’s displays and gardens, including A Converted Flat in 2049: The Innovo Room of the Future, a retrofitted home installation curated by Interaction Research Studio, offering a glimpse into how our homes might adapt to future environmental and social challenges.
Warmer Homes, Warmer Prospects: domestic housing retrofit policies in action for results
Session and Q&A
Introduction Lucy Bullivant
Keynote:
Cllr Jacob Cable, Cabinet Member for Climate, Clean Air, Energy and Transport, Hackney Council
Making more of what we have: intelligent and socially responsible adaptive reuse through ‘second cycle’ buildings and neighbourhoods
Session and Q&A
Chair: Arthur Kay
Panellists:
Christian Dimbleby, architect and Head of Sustainability UK, White Arkitektur, London
Jennifer O’Donnell, architect and Director, O’Donnell Brown, Glasgow
Dr Laura Morgan Forster, Innovation Lead – Net Zero Heat, Innovate UK
3.25pm – 3.35pm: Break
3.35pm – 4.25pm: Panel Five
Stronger together: what makes community-led retrofit work
Session and Q&A
Chair: Lucy Bullivant
Panellists:
Hilary Powell, artist, co-founder, Power Station and Optimistic Foundation CIC, London
Jonathan Atkinson, Co-founder, People Powered Retrofit/Carbon Co-op, Manchester
Session and Q&A
Scaling the retrofit revolution: crafting resilient, inclusive urban neighbourhood transformation
Chair: Arthur Kay
Panellists:
Joe Morris, architect, co-founder, Morris+Company, London
Barnaby Johnson, architect and Quality and Design Manager, Places for London, Transport for London
Sustaining ourselves through retrofit and regenerative design strategies for healthy lives: reflections and take aways
Chair: Arthur Kay
Panellists:
Tara Gbolade and Lanre Gbolade, architects and co-founders, Gbolade Design Studio, London
Tom Bennett, Co-Director, Studio Bark, London, architect and co-founder Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN)
Agnes Czako, CEO, AirEx Technologies and Passivhaus consultant, London
CPD: This event has Continuing Professional Development (CPD) status.