City News

Kevin McCloud will be taking his Great British Refurb Campaign to Birmingham, to encourage the people of Birmingham to understand and start reducing their emissions, with Green Refurbishments. Birmingham homeowners will have the opportunity to get advice on retrofitting our homes, to help save money and plan for a sustainable future, at Grand Designs Live, sponsored by British Gas, on Friday 9th October.

Since the Launch of the Great British Refurb campaign back in London earlier this April, acceptance of the crucial necessity to green our existing housing stock, rather than pin all our hopes on new-build, has spread. But how do we guarantee that these transformations deliver social benefit? And where is the money coming from? Kevin McCloud debates the next steps with Greg Clark, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change plus leaders from campaign partners WWF and the Energy Saving Trust.

Kevin McCloud will also be hosting a special seminar in the Grand Seminar Theatre, at 14.30-15.30 on Friday 9th October Located in the Grand Village sponsored by first direct, which will offer visitors the chance to ask questions on how retrofitting affects their area, and their homes, as well as providing the latest innovations and product developments within every home, design and architectural profession, in an interactive Q&A seminar.

The seminar will discuss what we should be doing to make our homes more energy efficient, the barriers people face to green refurbishment, and what Government should be doing to give more help to the consumer. It will also provide an opportunity for the public to ask questions.
TV presenter and eco-pioneer, Kevin McCloud, launched this nationwide campaign to urge the Government to help people to undertake energy-efficient green refurbishments in their homes  at Grand Designs Live, London in April 2009, with backing from Grand Designs Magazine, the Energy Saving Trust, the UK Green Building Council and WWF.

With twenty seven per cent of carbon emissions come from energy used in the home, the campaign urges the UK public to take positive action by signing a petition that will ask the Government to do more to help consumers finance the green refurbishment of their own homes, and now Kevin McCloud hopes to gain support from Birmingham’s wide public.

Kevin McCloud commented: "Our homes use energy unsustainably. They leak heat and gobble power." The Government has conducted a public consultation to seek views on its longer-term ambitions for how we can transform the way we use heat and energy in our homes to achieve an 80 per cent reduction in emissions by 2050. But with at least 80 per cent of homes that will be standing in 2050 already built, our existing homes will need to be radically transformed in order to meet this target.

The ultimate goal of the campaign is to provide a receptive audience for the Government to take action on existing homes.
Kevin McCloud added: "No policy initiative will succeed unless there is an increased appetite from households for energy saving and low-carbon refurbishment – which means getting people excited in their droves.  
 
"We have a big challenge to explain why this is all so important; what people can do now and how they can install technologies that have quick pay-backs; how professionals, the Government and the energy industry might help; how consumers can get more politically involved and who they can go to for expert advice."

Grand Designs Live, Birmingham, sponsored by British Gas  is split into 6 unique sections – GRANDBuild sponsored by VELUX, GRANDInteriors sponsored by Samsung, GRANDBathrooms, GRANDKitchens and GRANDGardens sponsored by Volvo and the GRANDVilage sponsored by first direct. With such a large variety of products and services available at our show, we cater to many industries.

The theatre will hold around 300 seated guests and run between 5 and 6 sessions per day.