The Retrofit Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Innovation Centre (RAMMIC), led by the University of Salford together with the University of Manchester, Sustainable Ventures and the Energy Innovation Agency, has received £8.56 million in funding through the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund programme. The initiative will investigate how advanced materials and manufacturing processes can support the decarbonisation of the approximately 27 million homes and 1.8 million non-domestic buildings in the UK that require energy efficiency retrofit measures.

The project will use the Energy House 1 and Energy House 2.0 facilities to assess the performance of innovative solutions under controlled climate conditions. As part of the research, representative homes from the 1930s and the 1980s will be constructed to test new technologies and retrofit approaches. In addition to fostering innovation and attracting investment into new products and services, RAMMIC will address key sector challenges, including ventilation and overheating, bringing together expertise in building performance, energy flexibility, acoustics, air quality and materials.