Work starts on Canterbury's first net-zero house

KentOnline / KMTV

The house was once entirely elvis themed, but now Canterbury council hope it will be the first of many eco-friendly homes.  Kristin Hawthorne reports.

Transcript

00:00Known as the Elvis Presley House thanks to this poster, which was sat in the window for more than 40 years,

00:05this derelict two-bedroom home in Canterbury is set to be all shook up.

00:10The council has started work to retrofit the building to make it the city's first net-zero social home.

00:16There was quite a long process to get to this point, i.e. putting the plans together, getting the funding,

00:21and then we had to find a contractor to carry out the work.

00:24Unfortunately, the first time round, we didn't find suitable contractors, so now we have, and the work starts today.

00:33You know, it's very visible, everyone can see it, so it's going to be a bit of a landmark.

00:37We all know it's called the Elvis House, it's famous for that.

00:41So, you know, Elvis House, retrofit, this is the future.

00:45You know, hopefully people will be inspired by this as they drive past and do the same in their own homes.

00:50The poster of Presley mysteriously left the building three years ago after reports of antisocial behaviour.

00:56The windows and doors have since been boarded up.

00:59But what is a net-zero home?

01:01Well, it's one that produces as much energy as it consumes,

01:05through things like solar panels, heat pumps and a heat recovery system, to generate renewable energy.

01:12So, adding insulations to the floors, the walls and the roof,

01:16obviously makes it more efficient in that sense that it's not losing heat.

01:20Because it's having solar panels as well, it's going to draw its energy from the sun.

01:26And because it's only driven by electric, there's no gas on the property.

01:33In just six months, contractors hope that the work to make this home net-zero will be finished,

01:39allowing for it to be used for social housing.

01:42But how much does it cost, and what do residents really think of the change?

01:46The scheme, that will be part-funded by the government's UK Shared Prosperity Fund,

01:50costs around £100,000, due to the amount of work that needs to be done.

01:55It's a particular house. It will be quite expensive, just because there's so much work to be done.

02:00As you can see, it's a very old house.

02:03As well as just the retrofit side of things, you know, putting in the heat pumps and all that,

02:07there's a lot of structure work to be done, and you can see that the ground is being dug up.

02:11You know, those things all cost...

02:13So I wouldn't want to use the cost of this house as an example of how much it might cost in anyone else's house.

02:19As I say, there was a grant to help.

02:23I've been here for 26 years.

02:25I just think that the old building's a bit of an eyesore, and it's not very nice inside, I understand.

02:31And, well, I guess families need somewhere to live.

02:36Yes, a family living there would be nice.

02:39With some suspicious minds over the change,

02:41the council hopes that it will create a little less conversation about its infamous looks,

02:46and a little more action about their larger plans to decarbonise the district.

02:51Kristen Hawthorne for KMTV in Canterbury.

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