The Great British Refurb
WWF has teamed up with Grand Designs TV presenter Kevin McCloud to launch the Grand Designs Great British Refurb campaign.
Our aim is to upgrade the entire UK housing stock, most of which is woefully energy-inefficient.
British homes are among the least energy-efficient in Europe, responsible for a huge 27% of the UK's total carbon emissions.
The scale of the challenge is vast if we're to cut the carbon emissions from all homes in the UK by the required 80%.
So while it's important to take steps at home to save energy, we need to do much more at government level.
The kind of full home energy makeover every UK home will need is not only expensive but requires a skilled and varied workforce that’s largely lacking in the UK.
The Grand Designs Great British Refurb campaign, launched at the Grand Designs Live event in London with WWF Ambassador Kevin McCloud and Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband, calls on government to launch a home finance scheme to help householders kickstart a nationwide home retrofit campaign, and to train up skilled professionals to do the work.
Watch our film of the launch with Kevin McCloud and Ed Miliband
Petition handed in to No. 10
Thank you to everyone who signed our petition calling on the government to do more to help UK householders green their homes. We handed in the petition to 10 Downing Street on 16 July with over 8,000 signatures!
To really get our message across, on 14 July we held a unique photocall event where Kevin McCloud invited MPs to help him insulate a specially constructed model house right next to Parliament! Many MPs from all parties turned up to support the campaign, including Ed Miliband, his Tory opposite Greg Clark, and John Healey (Minister for Housing).
Watch our short film of the house that Kevin built!
Join our Great British Refurb campaign
Together with our other campaign partners – the Energy Saving Trust, Grand Designs magazine and the UK Green Building Council – we aim to turn the UK's draughty, energy-wasteful homes into places that are more comfortable to live in, save money on fuel, and do their bit to save the planet.
You can...
- support the Grand Designs Great British Refurb campaign
- find out more about our housing campaign
- read more about the Great British Refurb
Take Action
Campaign links
- Win a home eco-makeover worth £15,000!
- Read the Great British Refurb blog
- More about the Great British Refurb campaign
- Find out more about our housing campaign
- Save energy
This is a campaign to revolutionise the Great British housing stock.
Kevin McCloud, Grand Designs
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I want to be lobbied on this
Ed Miliband