A long term solution

Mark Atkinson, sales director at Hurst Doors, discusses the current surge in demand for energy efficient home improvement products, and how it isn’t a temporary phenomenon.

Think of energy efficiency, and your first thought is unlikely to be of doors.

Wall insulation, loft insulation, replacing boilers, installing energy efficient appliances and so on – these are the measures that strike us as the most immediate way to make buildings more thermally efficient.

But actually, doors have a critically important role to play in making Britain’s homes more comfortable and cheaper to heat.

In recent months, demand for energy efficient products, amongst them doors, has increased – and far from slowing, it’s likely to rise even higher in the years ahead.

Soaring energy prices

Why is that? The short-term reasons are obvious. Britain is currently undergoing its greatest energy crisis in at least a generation.

Earlier this year, following sharply rising global fuel prices, government regulator OFGEM increased its cap on annual energy bills by 54%, from £1,277 to £1,971.

By the Autumn, some commentators were predicting the average annual energy bill could exceed £3,000 a year by the end of 2022.

In response, the government announced that it would cap those bills at £2,500 for six months, providing consumers with some much-needed relief – but that still represents a more than 20% increase based on the previous cap.

That’s spurred a marked increase in demand for energy-efficient home improvement products – including energy-efficient doors – that’s likely to continue for months as winter approaches.

With ministers announcing they’ll spend a further £1.5bn on improving the energy efficiency of 130,000 social houses across the country, it’s possible we’ll soon see a similar surge in demand from the public sector too.

Tackling climate change

But as severe as it seems today, it’s widely anticipated that the energy crisis will only be a temporary phenomenon.

Climate change, on the other hand, will mean that energy efficient products remain in demand for decades after that crisis has been resolved.

Europe’s buildings account for 40% of its energy use, and 36% of total CO2 emissions.

At a time when we urgently need those emissions to fall, in Britain, they’re expected to increase another 11% by 2035.

According to the Institute of Engineering and Technology, 80% of the homes people will live in by 2050 have already been built.

That means retrofitting, including replacing millions of doors with energy efficient alternatives, will therefore play a part in reducing emissions.

For installers, that means being able to offer quality energy efficient doors will soon become vital if they want to continue to thrive.

Earlier this year, the government introduced the interim uplifted standards contained in Approved Document L, Volume 1: Dwellings (Conservation of fuel and power) as part of its roadmap towards a new Future Homes Standard in 2025.

In the months since, that’s focused the glazing industry on improving thermal efficiency in windows and doors – but at Hurst, our composite doors already satisfied the stricter requirements of the revised Document L.

Thermally efficient cores, frames and glass all contribute to the exemplary Hurst results and, coupled with an impressive range, the GRP composite door from Hurst is certainly a door to open.

To learn more about the energy efficient composite door range and the associated support packages available to resellers, please get in touch – we’d be delighted to hear from you.