Emma Bushell’s house in Lewisham, southeast London, does not look like an eco home – it’s a Victorian terrace with creaky wooden floors, sash windows, and ornate cornicing. Yet the whole place is insulated to the highest standard and is heated by an air source heat pump, which she says has slashed her energy bills by £600 each year. “My boiler was flaky and I knew that if I simply put in a new one, I’d never live it down,” explains Bushell, who is head of energy and carbon for the City of London Corporation.
“What I didn’t expect, though, was that the project would snowball.” Retrofitting a sustainable energy system is rarely straightforward. Bushell knew this from her work upgrading heating in social housing.
There’s still a lack of knowledge and skill in the industry, she says, which is why she used a retrofit architect for her project. The initial quote from James Rixon, an architect who specialises in retrofit, included simply installing an air source heat pump and improved insulation. Ultimately, however, Bushell and her wife decided to extend the kitchen into the side return and change the layout of the bathroom at the same time.
“It was like the Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly ,” she says. “When you’re pulling up floors and replastering walls, it’s cost effective to make other improvements.” Heat pumps have received mixed reviews since the government launched its Boiler Upgrade Scheme in 2022, offering grants to cover part of the cost of r.
