The University of Warwick, in collaboration with Coventry City Council (CCC), have come together to tackle fuel poverty and climate change in Radford. 

Coventry is one of the worst affected authorities in the country for fuel poverty, with over 20.3% of households affected. To raise awareness of how to tackle fuel poverty and reduce carbon emissions, the University of Warwick have completed a series of workshops as part of ongoing research to better inform Coventry residents on what support is available locally and nationally. 

This initiative aimed to address the challenges of climate change and the current energy crisis by educating and engaging the local community in the Radford area on the importance of energy efficiency measures, such as improved insulation, boiler upgrades, and solar panel installations. 

The workshops, held at St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School in Radford, used a place-based approach and utilized elements of design thinking to help the local community better understand the barriers to energy efficiency and explore creative solutions.  

The workshops, facilitated by Warwick researchers, members of the Council, student ambassadors, teachers, and local artists, including an interactive workshop on energy conservation, 3D models of energy efficient homes, and an event with adults engaged in discussions on barriers to housing retrofitting. 

This was followed by games for children and a celebratory event showcasing the children’s work and learning.

The information gathered from these workshops has informed the development of a survey that has been distributed to all parents in the school and will guide future iterations of the methodology in areas of Coventry where engagement with retrofit measures is particularly low. The attached QR code will take you to the survey, which aimsto get a better understanding on barriers to engagement with retrofit measures (making your home energy efficient).

It will take between 5-10 minutes to complete the survey. By participating in the survey, you will get an opportunity to receive ONE out of three £50 love2shop vouchers.

The attached QR code takes participants to a survey aiming to get a better understanding on barriers to engagement with retrofit measures (making your home energy efficient).

If you wish to contribute to the study, please scan the QR and have your say on housing retrofitting!

Project lead Dr Lory Barile, Associate Professor at the University of Warwick said: “We created this participatory research project to better understand barriers to housing retrofitting, but also to inspire the Radford residents in Coventry nudging them toward embracing energy-saving practices. At the core of our communities, schools can serve as catalysts for inspiring sustainable lifestyles.  

“By embracing creativity, we hope that this pilot study will be a catalyst for change and inspire other residents in Coventry to increase their take up of government schemes aimed at creating healthy homes, reducing carbon emissions, energy bills, and fuel poverty.” 

The project aims to better understand barriers to engagement with retrofit measures, such as improved insulation, boiler upgrades, and solar panel installations, through the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme—a government initiative designed to tackle fuel poverty and reduce carbon emissions. 

Brett Willers, Head of Sustainability & Climate Change at Coventry City Council said: “This pilot project has been very successful about raising people’s awareness as to how to better insulate their homes and how to access free funding to improve energy efficiency.  

"The children had a series of lessons which included science experiments to test out the insulation properties of different materials and creating models of houses showing what they could do to make their homes more energy efficient to provide affordable warmth whilst helping to tackle global warming.  

Professor Lory Barile worked with artists, teachers at St Augustin’s RC Primary School and Coventry City” Council to develop a teaching pack, which schools across the City will be able to use to raise the awareness of children and families about domestic energy efficiency.  

We hope that this pilot will contribute to increase the take up of schemes available to households to meet the City’s commitment to tackling climate change and addressing fuel poverty.  

Professor Andy Gouldson the author of the Zero Carbon route map for Coventry identified the improvements to domestic energy efficiency as the highest priority for the City in tackling climate change, highlighting the importance for households to take up the 100% grants that are available to households that can meet the Government criteria for funding.” 

The information gathered from these workshops has informed the development of a survey to be distributed to all parents in the school and will guide future iterations of the methodology in areas of Coventry where engagement with retrofit measures is particularly low.

The survey can also be accessed here.

ENDS 

Notes to Editors 

For more information about this initiative, please contact Lory.Barile@warwick.ac.uk