News & blog

On 1 April 2022, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) came into effect providing £450 million worth of government grants to help homeowners in England and Wales upgrade to low-carbon heating systems, such as heat pumps and biomass boilers. From Monday 23 May, the

Since 2008, it has been compulsory for landlords to obtain an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of ‘E’ for a property they lease. EPCs tell prospective tenants and buyers how energy efficient a property is on a scale of A to G, with A

As the installation of heat pumps increases in the UK, we are often asked what it’s really like living with a heat pump, as opposed to a gas boiler, or other forms of heating.  Tim is the project manager at Cosy Homes Oxfordshire, and with his wife,

From the start of the new year, there will only be three months remaining to apply for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), soon to be replaced by the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) in March 2022. For some homeowners, it may be in their interest to take part in

The dust has settled post-COP26 and the response has been mixed, although there have been some positive announcements – caveats included. Broadly, most recognise much more needs to be done, acknowledging that the scale of commitments will not go

The long-awaited Heat and Buildings Strategy was just published to a good deal of media coverage, mainly focusing on the boiler replacement grants of £5,000 coming into play next year.  This is welcome news as it will undoubtedly remove a barrier for

“Cosy Homes Oxfordshire allowed me to receive a £5,000 VAT refund from my home retrofit work that I hadn’t expected to ever see again – thank you so much!” said Trish Lunel, one of our early clients. Rules on value-added tax (VAT) – the

Anne and Richard are active members of Abingdon Carbon Cutters, a low carbon community group with a strong interest in retrofitting, which became a Community Advocate Group for Cosy Homes Oxfordshire in 2020. The couple decided to use the services of Cosy

SuperHomes is a network of homeowners who have refurbished their homes (usually old, hard to treat homes) to the highest standard of energy efficiency – meaning that little energy is being wasted in the home, and there is no reliance on fossil fuels for

Our homes have a huge role to play in the climate emergency. To address the climate crisis and meet our carbon reduction targets in the UK, we need to retrofit millions of homes, reducing the amount of wasted energy which is causing excess carbon emissions.

When we talk about home retrofit and our Cosy Homes Oxfordshire service, we often use the term ‘energy efficiency’. But what is energy efficiency, why is it important, and how does it relate to our homes? That’s what we’ll cover in this post. Defining

Our whole house retrofit service has been operational for two years now. These two years (2019-21) have been our ‘pilot phase’, during which we’ve received grant-funding from the UK Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy

Our whole house retrofit service has been operational for two years now. These two years (2019-21) have been our ‘pilot phase’, during which we’ve received grant-funding from the UK Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy

The pilot phase of Cosy Homes Oxfordshire (2019-21) is just the beginning of our journey to create a robust business model for delivering home retrofit that works for both homeowners and contractors - but we’re proud of how far we’ve come and what we’ve

Cosy Homes Oxfordshire client, Andy Pedley, shares his experience so far working with us to make improvements to his home in Kidlington. We are all very aware, from huge publicity, that there is a climate emergency – carbon dioxide levels are increasing

Home retrofit and energy efficiency improvements can transform your cold, draughty house into an energy efficient, Cosy Home - here's

When it comes to home retrofit there is no ‘one-size fits all’ solution, as the age, style, past improvements and upkeep of a house all come into play.  In this series of blogs we talk to owners of different types of home and explore some of the

In March 2021 we’re hosting a Low Carbon Homes online event for Oxfordshire, focused on the key barrier for increasing the uptake of home retrofit – the supply chain. The event will run over three mornings, and sessions will include both speaker

Home retrofit and energy efficiency improvements can transform your cold, draughty house into an energy efficient, Cosy Home - here's

In this series of retrofit measures blogs, we’ll be explaining different retrofit measures which can improve the energy efficiency of homes – reducing energy usage to cut energy bills and carbon emissions, and improve the comfort of your home.

In this series of retrofit measures blogs, we’ll be explaining different retrofit measures which can improve the energy efficiency of homes – reducing energy usage to cut energy bills and carbon emissions, and improve the comfort of your home.

The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is a UK government incentive scheme which offers homeowners payment for installing systems which generate renewable energy to heat the home – including heat pumps and biomass boilers. The Domestic Renewable Heat

In this series of retrofit measures blogs, we’ll be explaining different retrofit measures which can improve the energy efficiency of homes – reducing energy usage to cut energy bills and carbon emissions, and improve the comfort of your home.

In this series of retrofit measures blogs, we’ll be explaining different retrofit measures which can improve the energy efficiency of homes – reducing energy usage to cut energy bills and carbon emissions, and improve the comfort of your home.

In this series of retrofit measures blogs, we’ll be explaining different retrofit measures which can improve the energy efficiency of homes – reducing energy usage to cut energy bills and carbon emissions, and improve the comfort of your home.

In this series of retrofit measures blogs, we’ll be explaining different retrofit measures which can improve the energy efficiency of homes – reducing energy usage to cut energy bills and carbon emissions, and improve the comfort of your home.

In this series of retrofit measures blogs, we’ll be explaining different retrofit measures which can improve the energy efficiency of homes – reducing energy usage to cut energy bills and carbon emissions, and improve the comfort of your home.

In this series of retrofit measures blogs, we’ll be explaining different retrofit measures which can improve the energy efficiency of homes – reducing energy usage to cut energy bills and carbon emissions, and improve the comfort of your home.

In this series of retrofit measures blogs, we’ll be explaining different retrofit measures which can improve the energy efficiency of homes – reducing energy usage to cut energy bills and carbon emissions, and improve the comfort of your home.

In this series of retrofit measures blogs, we’ll be explaining different retrofit measures which can improve the energy efficiency of homes – reducing energy usage to cut energy bills and carbon emissions, and improve the comfort of your home.

In this series of retrofit measures blogs, we’ll be explaining different retrofit measures which can improve the energy efficiency of homes – reducing energy usage to cut energy bills and carbon emissions, and improve the comfort of your home.

In this series of retrofit measures blogs, we’ll be explaining different retrofit measures which can improve the energy efficiency of homes – reducing energy usage to cut energy bills and carbon emissions, and improve the comfort of your home.

In this series of retrofit measures blogs, we’ll be explaining different retrofit measures which can improve the energy efficiency of homes – reducing energy usage to cut energy bills and carbon emissions, and improve the comfort of your home.

There’s huge opportunity in retrofit for the building and construction industry – here’s why The UK government has set a target committing to become a net zero carbon emissions economy by 2050, as recommended by the Committee on Climate

In this series of ‘understanding retrofit measures’ blogs, we’ll be explaining different retrofit measures which can improve the energy efficiency of homes – reducing energy usage to cut energy bills and carbon emissions, and improve

Cosy Homes Oxfordshire is a one-stop home retrofit service connecting homeowners with skilled building professionals to deliver high quality retrofit work, under one seamless programme.  We work with local (or willing to travel) building professionals to

Research has shown that taking a whole house approach is one of the key factors in ensuring that home retrofit is as effective as possible at reducing the carbon footprint of a property. Whole house retrofit means that we are aiming to take a property to near

In this series of ‘understanding retrofit’ blogs, we’ll be explaining different retrofit measures which can improve the energy efficiency of homes – how they work, what types of homes they will be right for, what installation looks

We recently completed work on retrofitting a cottage in Hook Norton, helping the residents come off fossil fuels for their heating. In this post we’ll give a summary of the work, but you can also download the full case study. About the home This home

The Green Homes Grant, launched in 2020 and now extended until March 2022, enables homeowners to access up to £5,000 to undertake certain retrofit measures. Update: published November 2020 This month the Government has confirmed that the Green Homes Grant

We can all do our bit to mitigate the effects of climate change by ensuring that our homes are as energy efficient as possible and so reduce carbon emissions.  We know that our UK housing stock is fairly old and inefficient, accounting for an estimated

A new home is a clean slate. Whether it’s knocking down walls, ripping out kitchens, or planning an extension, it’s an opportunity to make this new house feel like your home. And whilst you’re already planning home renovations, it makes sense to get

Our focus at Cosy Homes Oxfordshire is on a whole house retrofit approach, assessing a house in its entirety with the aim of producing bespoke and comprehensive recommendations to make that home as energy efficient as possible, likely including several

Over the past year we’ve been building up our pool of trusted, local building contractors to work on home retrofit projects through Cosy Homes Oxfordshire. This has been successful and we’ve brought lots of contractors

Once you’ve registered your home with Cosy Homes Oxfordshire and begin your home retrofit journey, the first step is a home assessment. But what can you expect to happen during this home assessment? That’s what we’ll be exploring in this blog. The first

With the growing threat of COVID-19 and in line with UK Government advice on limiting non-essential contact, we temporarily stopped our on-site Whole House Plan home assessments in March this year – but we are now able to offer these as normal. During

We’re often asked about the most common measures to have implemented on a home during retrofit to improve energy efficiency. So, we’ve created our very own interactive Cosy House to show you what some of these common measures are – as well

If you’re a tenant in a private rental property in Oxfordshire and you think the energy efficiency of your home could be improved, there are a few things you can do: Use our communications pack to encourage your landlord to contact us If you feel your

So you care about the climate emergency and want to do your bit to lower your environmental impact at home. You may have heard about home retrofits and have no idea where to begin? Fear not. In this blog, we explore the key things you should consider before

In a show of resilience towards the climate emergency, the UK government has made the commitment to become net-zero by 2050. The UK’s net-zero target would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 100% of 1990 levels, as recommended by the Committee on

A cutback on the use of non-renewable fossil fuels is an important step in tackling the climate emergency, and one actionable way to do this is through the use of renewable energy. Smart solar homes increase UK renewable energy use and can reduce the amount

Interested in retrofitting your home and wondering what the role of a Retrofit Coordinator involves?  Spending days filled with home assessment visits, tailored consultations, energy audits, and site visits, Retrofit Coordinators take a hands-on approach to

The UK has some of the oldest domestic building stock in Europe, with nearly 38% of homes dating from before 1946 according to this report by researchers at the BRE. In 2019, alongside a pledge to become net-zero by 2050, the UK government announced a £10

Do you know your biomass boilers from your solar thermal panels? Air source heat pumps from ground source heat pumps? These renewable energy heating systems provide a greener, cleaner alternative to traditional home heating systems which typically use natural

Nights are getting longer; the air is getting crisper as temperatures continue to drop. These sure signs can only mean one thing – ‘Tis the season to be cosy! As we draw closer and closer to Christmas and to the height of winter, more and more

There are several key steps towards the making of a Cosy Home. These steps form an integral part of the home retrofit service we offer here at Cosy Homes Oxfordshire. From considering smaller measures such as upgrading your heating system to whole house

On the back of recent global declarations and growing awareness around the climate emergency, it is becoming more and more apparent that saving the planet is now everybody’s responsibility.

With record-breaking protests and global declarations of a climate emergency, it has become critical that we do all we can to adapt to climate change and reduce our carbon footprint, including that of our

In the wake of the global climate emergency strikes, most of us are (or should be!) taking stock of our own personal impact on our environment.