SHDF Wave 2.1 – West Midlands
Measured across our retrofit programmes
- 2,493homes with a post-works EPC
- +11average SAP points gained
- D → Caverage band movement
- 99.6%finish at band C or better
Crawford & Co assessed and coordinated these homes. Figures cover every programme where works are complete and a post-works EPC has been lodged, September 2026, and are not specific to this project.
Overview
SHDF Wave 2.1 — a housing association (West Midlands). Objectives: enhance energy performance, reduce carbon and residents’ bills; prioritise Cavity Wall Insulation and loft insulation to 270mm; align with SHDF Wave 2.1 standards. Crawford & Co held a scoping meeting with the landlord, surveyed all 78 units, produced detailed assessments and technical specifications, collaborated with approved contractors, and ran QA and post-installation inspections including post-works EPC lodgement.
Eddy
Project Manager
Strategy
Fabric
Wave 2 stock is diverse: house types vary street by street, each with its own construction and its own constraints, and each needs its own answer. Measures on this scheme were specified per property from the assessment — external or internal wall insulation, loft and room-in-roof insulation, and window and door improvements.
Pre-existing defects are the rule rather than the exception on this kind of stock: dampness, condensation and mould, cavity wall tie failure, roof slumping and spread, timber decay and lintel failure. Every one of those has to be resolved before insulation goes on.
Identifying them at assessment is what makes enabling works a planned item rather than a mid-programme surprise.
Service
Ventilation and airtightness are one decision, not two. Extract ventilation, and demand-controlled mechanical extract ventilation with humidity sensing where it is warranted, are designed in alongside the fabric measures so that a tighter home is also a drier one.
Heating and hot water measures are matched to the demand the fabric work leaves behind, so plant is sized for the improved property.
Renewables
Where a property suits it, solar PV is added after the fabric measures, so that generation offsets a demand already reduced rather than masking one that has not been. Roof orientation, structural capacity and the condition of the existing covering all decide suitability, and the assessment records that rather than assuming it.
Conservation areas, listed status, and bird nesting or bat hibernation seasons all shape what can be installed and when. On this kind of stock those are routine planning considerations, not exceptions.
Vital Statistics
Properties in scope: 78.
Crawford & Co scope: Retrofit Assessment, Retrofit Design.
Measures installed: Cavity wall insulation, loft insulation.
Programme period: 2023 to 2024 (indicative).
Each assessment records the property’s construction and its modelled performance before and after the proposed measures — space-heating demand in kWh/m² per year, carbon in kg per year and estimated energy cost. Figures are held per property rather than averaged, and are available to the client in full.
Detailing
Airtightness is tested rather than assumed. Windows, doors and service penetrations are sealed and the result measured against the scheme’s air permeability target, with the ventilation strategy sized to match.
Our retrofit condition report was developed in house and approved by both the scheme provider and TrustMark. The work behind it contributed to our managing director’s appointment to the BS 40104 steering group — the British Standard for retrofit assessment. Where PAS 2035 leaves a technical question genuinely open, we take it up with the standard’s authors rather than guess.
Further Data
Standards
PAS 2035 / PAS 2030
Comfort
A retrofit that lowers a bill but leaves a home stuffy or damp has not worked. Comfort here means even temperatures, humidity that stays under control, ventilation the resident does not have to think about, and daylight where the property allows for larger windows or roof lights.
Residents remain in occupation throughout, so assessment visits are designed to capture everything needed in one appointment.
Monitoring
Coordinators quality-check every assessment before it reaches design, and the scheme runs with a live view shared between client, designer and installers so that discrepancies surface in days rather than at handover. Regular review meetings with client, designer and installers run for its duration.
Post-completion documentation is prepared for TrustMark lodgement through secure data sharing.
A medium-term plan covers maintenance, ongoing performance monitoring and future upgrades, so that the measures keep performing after the programme closes.
Social Value
KaneSocial value leadDuring this project Kane was on a Surveying Technician Apprenticeship, funded directly from this contract.