At BetterLivingSpace we are delighted to have our architectural design and structural engineering services featured in local online guide ‘5 Things To Do‘.

With energy costs soaring, many of us are concerned about how we will keep warm this winter. But did you know that there are some straightforward and cost-effective ways you can quickly improve the energy efficiency of your home? Act now and you’ll reap the rewards for this winter and ahead.

1. Automate your heating

Add individual controls to each radiator in the home. In doing this you can create heating zones and you won’t waste money warming the rooms you are not using. It is quite easy and economical to retrofit radiator control valves in older homes, or design in-control zones in new builds. Set up your heating on timers, so you are only heating your home when you are there. Modern control panels are compatible with mobile phones, meaning you’ll be able to control the temperature in your home even when you are miles away. Say goodbye to the days of inadvertently leaving the heating on while you’re out at work!

2. Glaze carefully

If you are in the early stages of designing an extension, conversion or orangery ask your architectural designer to consider the orientation of any glazing. Glazing positioning is key to blocking the summer sun and harnessing its warmth in winter. We recommend no more than 25% of a roof should be glazed, while clever and interesting roof design can both insulate and bring light into your home.

3. Add insulation

Where have you been for the last 10+ years if the walls of your home are still not insulated? If they are still uninsulated, then you could be losing up to 33% of heat through them. Thanks to the government’s support schemes, most people have been made aware of the benefits of wall insulation. But did you know that floor insulation can also help your home stay toasty? Up to 15% of lost heat can escape through the ground floor. And while upstairs floors don’t normally need to be insulated, you should consider it if the room is positioned directly above a cold area, such as a garage.

4. Add more insulation!

To the roof this time. We all know heat rises so it makes sense to insulate the area the most heat is escaping through. In the vast majority of cases it is fine to even over-insulate the roof slightly.

5. Banish single glazing

If you are not planning on replacing your windows in the near future and they are single glazed, then adding a secondary glazing can be a good option as a transitional measure to enable you to benefit from a double-glazed approach. If you are at the point of replacing windows anyway then consider opting for triple glazing to reap both soundproofing and heating benefits.

6. Position heat sources carefully

If you are undertaking a home build project and will be able to influence the positioning of boilers and hot water tanks, then ensure they are placed centrally in the house to capture the heat in the heart of the home. To further drive down heating costs, consider investing in a low carbon heating system such as a heat pump. While not a huge money saver, making use of a fireplace or log burner can supplement the central heating in that area of the home.

7. Put a jacket on

Not on you; but on your hot water tank. A lot of the heat is generated by hot water tanks but can be lost when a cylinder jacket is not used. Buy a well fitting cylinder jacket of at least 80mm thickness to keep the heat in, and you can also wrap visible hot water pipes with foam tubing. All these materials are easy to find and fit, and will quickly pay for themselves.

8. Draught proof your home

While we need some ventilation flowing through the home to prevent damp and condensation, be sure to put a stop to rogue draughts coming in through letterboxes and poorly fitting doors and windows. There are plenty of reasonably priced, off-the-shelf DIY products to help achieve this.

9. Install energy efficient lightbulbs

Using low-energy LEDs are more expensive to buy, but they use around 90% less energy and can last up to fifteen times longer!

10. Check what help you can get

You may be eligible for the government’s Help to Heat funding scheme, or for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which is open until 2025.

To find out about further ways to make your home more energy efficient, book in to talk to one of the BetterLivingSpace architectural designers.

Carrying out a loft conversion can be one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways of adding extra living space – and value – to your home. And since it stands alone, this extra space is extremely versatile. It can be used for an office, snug, playroom, extra bedroom, bathroom – pretty much anything you want!

Our clients in Esher, Surrey, wanted to open up their kitchen to capture more natural light.

The result is a light and contemporary open plan kitchen, dining and living area, which benefits from a full southerly aspect.

Adding instant kerb appeal and a traditional cottage-style feel to the property exterior, dormer windows are a prime example of an architectural feature that has stood the test of time.

As life gets back to normal, we have taken the decision to permanently offer the choice to our clients of conducting all meetings and consultations via Zoom or in-person, according to preference.

Although the rigorous rules of lockdown have now been replaced by a day-to-day normalcy that closely resembles pre-pandemic life, there are some ways of working which will never revert

Prior to the pandemic, we were already strong advocates of flexible working and it was gratifying to see most blue chip and global organisations adopt flexible measures in some capacity, offering employees a work-life balance that would not formerly have been thought possible.

We appreciate our clients are often juggling busy schedules and we try to work as flexibly as we can to accommodate. Offering Zoom meetings and consultations on a permanent basis is a small but significant step in making our business processes as adaptable as possible.

If you would like no-obligation advice on how to improve and add value to your property, book in for a free consultation with a designer and engineer – either via Zoom or in-person; the choice is yours!