Understanding our housing stock
Analysing the energy use of homes in our villages for the Home Energy Project.
How we analysed the homes in our villages
To better understand the energy improvement needs of homes in Shipbourne and Plaxtol, CASP worked with the Centre for Energy Equality (CEE) as part of our Home Energy Project. Using CEE's Fairer Warmth housing database, we analysed local housing characteristics including property age, building type, construction methods and heating systems. Fairer Warmth combines EPC data with housing information to build a detailed picture of the homes in our community.
This analysis helped us identify the most common housing types across our villages and some key characteristics of houses in Shipbourne and Plaxtol, which we outline below.
Want to learn more about your own home? You can explore your property's information using the Fairer Warmth.
Key insights into our housing stock
Shipbourne and Plaxtol have a distinctive rural housing stock that presents both challenges and opportunities for improving home energy performance.
Our analysis found that:
Ageing housing stock
50% detached homes
Pitched roofs
Oil powered
Around 45% of homes were built before 1930, meaning many properties have solid walls, limited insulation and higher rates of heat loss.
Nearly half of the homes in the villages are detached, resulting in greater exposed wall and roof areas and therefore higher heating demand.
Most homes have pitched roofs, creating excellent opportunities for installing solar photovoltaic (PV) panels.
Fewer than 6% of properties are connected to the mains gas network, with most households relying on heating oil, LPG or electricity for heating.
These characteristics explain why housing accounts for such a large proportion of local carbon emissions and why improving the energy efficiency of our homes represents one of the biggest opportunities to reduce emissions while making homes warmer and more affordable to run.
Our villages' energy saving potential: a golden opportunity
Our housing analysis shows there is significant potential to reduce both carbon emissions and household energy costs across Shipbourne and Plaxtol.
By applying the findings from our detailed home surveys across the wider housing stock, we estimate that even if only half of local homes completed the recommended energy upgrades, then...
Alongside reducing carbon emissions, improving our homes also delivers wider benefits.
Better insulation and efficient heating can make homes warmer and healthier, reduce damp and condensation, improve indoor air quality and reduce reliance on volatile fossil fuel prices. Together, we can build a brighter, greener future for Shipbourne and Plaxtol.
Explore how we're doing that through our Home Energy Project, and read the results here.