Read April’s digital edition of H&V news online now

The digital edition of April’s H&V News is now online. The latest issue is focused on growing pressure from HVAC industry bodies and environmental campaigners for Chancellor Rishi Sunak to introduce a national programme to retrofit exiting homes and buildings to be more energy efficient.

A successful programme of ramping up the efficiency of homes is seen as a vital step to curb heat demand and bills.

These calls have been made amidst the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that has added to broader global supply uncertainties that continue to drive significant increases in gas prices.

The UK’s independent Climate Change Committee has meanwhile recently warned that there is a shortfall of policy detail on how the country will deliver net zero carbon heat for its buildings based on the current performance of homes where millions of people are living.

The watchdog, which is an important voice in helping steer UK government policy, said there is insufficient funding currently available in order to improve the fabric efficiency of social homes at the scale needed. This was just one of several areas of concern about how exactly the country can end its reliance on fossil fuels for the purposes of heating and powering homes.

It is timely then that the April edition of the magazine also carries several previews of the H&V News Better Buildings Summit that is taking place tomorrow (March 29) and will be covered extensively over the next month in hvnplus.co.uk and in our upcoming May edition.

The free to attend online event will hear from experts working across the building engineering and design sectors, as well as from senior civil servants to understand how exactly a building can be made ‘better’ in all senses of the word.  This will focus on introducing holistic improvements to guarantee both the safety and wellbeing of occupants, as well as supporting the adoption of more sustainable heating systems at a mass scale.

Alan Siggins, a Board member of industry association BEAMA’s Ventilation Group, writes in the issue about how growing awareness and scrutiny of indoor air quality must now be translated to meaningful action.

BEAMA’s building technologies director Colin Timmins will be among the expert speakers joining us the summit to talk about introducing new benchmarks for indoor air quality in buildings.

You can read the magazine in full here.