The book, which looks specifically at flat-fronted Victorian terraced house types, is the first in a proposed series of downloadable documents which will eventually cover almost all of the UKs different housing typologies.Available from the National Retrofit Hub, the 122-page publication is aimed at supporting property owners and landlords. Its advice aims both to help them reduce carbon emissions from heating homes and to create warmer, healthier, and more comfortable homes and, in turn, reduce, energy bills.The book covers everything from technical issues, such as how to improve insulation and airtightness without exacerbating issues with moisture, condensation, and mould, to basic maintenance which can hinder the effectiveness of retrofit works.AdvertisementThe pattern book has been developed in close collaboration with Joel Gustafsson Consulting (JGC) and, the practice says, the concept and content has been refined with Barclays to ensure complex topics were communicated as clearly as possible. The draft final document was peer-reviewed by a team at Etude.The modelling and analysis featured is based on kWh/m/yr, rather than Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), which, the architects claim, more accurately represents the energy expenditure, carbon emissions and potential energy savings involved in retrofit works.5th Studio and JGC constructed detailed 3D and energy models of a typical terraced house and tested both the existing energy losses and the potential reductions following a wide range of fabric improvement and technological measures.These measures have been broken down by cost, need for external advice, timescale and the level of disruption involved.The practice said works could be as small as DIY tasks that might be completed over a weekend to whole-house retrofits that might take a year to plan and be implemented with a professional team.AdvertisementThe team hopes the resource could be developed into an interactive web resource that could allow users to input their own data which would affect the outcomes of the model: including for example, forms of heating, desired set temperatures [and] geographical location.5th Studio director Oliver Smith said: The retrofit of existing homes is one of the greatest opportunities to reduce energy demand and national carbon emissions. We decided that wed create the greatest impact and support for realisable and fundable solutions if we worked directly with banks and mortgage lenders.Barclays embraced the idea of a Retrofit Pattern Book and supported the creation of this pilot book both financially and by setting up a working group to rigorously test the concepts and content.