Andy’s plans to ‘stop heating the garden’ from his 1930s ‘Sunshine House’ – Recorded interview

Birmingham Green Doors showcases energy efficient homes in the ‘able-to-pay’ market, because seeing is believing when it comes to making our homes greener and warmer. Our homeowners are excited to share their warmer home wins with you, but also don’t hold back on the trials and tribulations that have come with making often extensive, expensive, and highly disruptive renovations. If you’re considering making some changes to your own home to improve its thermal performance, you’ll benefit from hearing about their hours of research, relationships with contractors, tough decision-making, and the mistakes they’ve inevitably made along the way towards Cosy Town.

This month we’re interviewing Andy about his plans to ‘stop heating the garden’ from his 1930s ‘Sunshine House’ in Bournville. Sunshine Houses were built for workers on the Bournville Estate with large windows and rooms facing the best direction for maximising sunlight. Andy and his partner moved into theirs in 2019. It has a wood and glass extension at the back added in the 1950s which forms a basic kitchen. As you can imagine, the kitchen is too cold in the winter yet too hot in the summer so Andy sought advice from an energy expert who suggested coating the whole structure with external insulation. They had a budget of £50k.

Want to know how Andy got on? Register now and we’ll send our full recorded interview with Andy – along with pictures and other useful bits of info – directly to your inbox within the first week of November.