Onsite at Insite: A view from the BRE

04/10/2011

I must admit to having some reservations walking past the scale model of the Dambusters’ Mohne Dam approaching the BRE in Watford this morning. Today was the first day of Insite11: the industry’s showcase for the latest innovations in sustainable refurbishment.

What would the mood be like at a time when there seems to be precious little funding for refurbishment? Would there be any positive signals coming from the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester? It seems unlikely at a time when central Government is more focused on the Euro crisis and double dip recession. Is there any appetite for innovation in the UK at the moment?

Sitting here in the evening after a long day on my feet in the Innovation Zone, where we were showcasing our WHISCERS process for internal wall insulation, I am pleased to say that the British love for inventing seems to be alive and kicking.

Well, I must admit it’s not all British. The United House exhibit was located next to a brilliant invention, called PowerLeap, from two American ladies, that uses technology to generate electricity from vibrations in foot traffic.

The Innovation Zone is about new technologies that are just going to market and have the potential to transform the refurbishment market. WHISCERS has demonstrated just that in a pilot project where it has cut household fuel bills by £600 a year and CO2 emissions by a staggering 77%.

Of the several thousand visitors to the Zone today, perhaps the best known to visit us was eco celebrity, interior designer and TV presenter Oliver Heath, who had been speaking at the main conference earlier in the day, and is seen on the left in the photo above with myself.

One day down, one more to go.

Malcolm Bushell
Senior Business Development Manager
United House