The British Institute of Interior Design (BIID) held its first conference on March 11, which revealed the secrets to lowering the carbon emissions of the UK's older housing stock.
Around 150 professional interior designers attended the Retrofit Conference, which was held at Chelsea Harbour Design Centre in London, and closed with the presentation of first Retrofit Design Awards.
Conference delegates heard from more than a dozen leading experts in environmentally friendly retrofit design, including designer Wayne Hemingway; Katy Lithgow, Head Conservator at the National Trust; and lighting designer Sally Storey.
The day began with a talk from the Government's Chief Construction Adviser, Paul Morrell, who stressed the urgency of addressing the causes and effects of climate change, and set out the scale of the problem.
The Government, he explained, was aiming for an 80% cut in carbon emissions from housing by 2050 - but while new homes were being built to stricter environmental standards, that still left around 25 million older homes urgently in need of improvement.
If improvements weren't made voluntary, he warned: "We will have to tell people at some point that their houses are illegal."
more: biid.org.uk (137)