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Development and pilot evaluation of an online retrofit decision-making tool for homeowners.

Seddiki, Mohammed; Bennadji, Amar; Alabid, Jamal; Gray, David; Deveci, Gokay

Authors

Amar Bennadji

Jamal Alabid



Abstract

Many retrofit projects went wrong in the UK principally because of the application of inappropriate retrofit solutions, which resulted in damp issues, with some leaving houses in worse conditions than pre-retrofit. Various online tools were developed to inform homeowners about the benefits of retrofitting. Prior to this study, little was known about users' evaluation of these tools and the effects of calculator use. Furthermore, no retrofit tool aims to raise the awareness of homeowners about moisture risks in a retrofit project. The originality of this study is to develop and evaluate an online moisture-safe retrofit decision-making tool for homeowners. The adopted methodology consisted of two phases. Phase one aimed to develop the tool. In phase two, semi-structured interviews were conducted to evaluate the tool. The results indicate that the tool has been well received by homeowners. The tool significantly increased participants' awareness of moisture risks related to a retrofit project. Most participants considered the tool an eye-opener, while few of them found it scary. However, the tool did not result in an increased willingness to invest in energy efficiency measures. The discouragement was related to high investment costs and long payback periods of some retrofit measures. Based on our findings, we formulate a set of design recommendations to improve the proposed tool and help retrofit calculators, in general, overcome challenges.

Citation

SEDDIKI, M., BENNADJI, A., ALABID, J., GRAY, D. and DEVECI, G. 2022. Development and pilot evaluation of an online retrofit decision-making tool for homeowners. Buildings [online], 12(10), article 1513. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12101513

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 20, 2022
Online Publication Date Sep 23, 2022
Publication Date Oct 31, 2022
Deposit Date Sep 27, 2022
Publicly Available Date Sep 27, 2022
Journal Buildings
Electronic ISSN 2075-5309
Publisher MDPI
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 12
Issue 10
Article Number 1513
DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12101513
Keywords Decision-making; Online tool; Retrofit; Pilot evaluation; Homeowners; Moisture-safe
Public URL https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1764089
Related Public URLs https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1764103

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