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When Robert Cohen and Bronwen Manby bought their early Victorian terraced house in Hackney last year they, like many middle-class couples, had their eye on spending a good sum bringing the place up to their high standards. However, it wasn鈥檛 a swimming pool or a Smallbones kitchen the pair were after for their 拢200,000, but an extreme energy refurb.

Manby, who works for charity, the Open Society Foundation, says she鈥檚 not interested in choosing fancy knobs for a shiny new kitchen. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 had any handles on the cabinets in my current kitchen for 12 years,鈥� she says, reclining on a mattress on the floor in the dusty property. 鈥淚鈥檝e never really seen the use for them.鈥�

Instead of geegaws and finishes, most of the 拢150-200,000 budget will be spent on insulation, window upgrades and airtightness measures for the 150-year-old property.

Sustainability consultant Cohen is proud of the different nature of the task: 鈥淭hese are improvements that are rarely pursued with vigour in refurbishment projects,鈥� he says.

This stuff normally gets eked out along the way.

Robert Prewett, Prewett Bizley Architects

He has high hopes for the project: 鈥淕iven the number of similar dwellings in the UK,鈥� he continues, 鈥渁 progressive approach to how they may be refurbished most effectively will become an increasingly important factor in reducing carbon emissions in this country.鈥� The pair recking that a standard refurbishment would cost about 拢150,000, without the energy efficiency improvements.

Team spirit

Cohen鈥檚 architect, Robert Prewett of Islington-based Prewett Bizley Architects, appreciates the brief and is convinced by his client鈥檚 sense of mission, if a little surprised. 鈥淗e seems genuinely to want to pursue this agenda; most of the energy here is going into reducing emissions. This stuff normally gets eked out along the way.鈥�

Doesn鈥檛 he resent that the project will be more technical than aesthetic? It鈥檚 not, he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not going to be just technical. The client will get a great space, at the end of the day.鈥� Adds Manby: 鈥淎 fancy butcher鈥檚 block is not as important as a good space. We鈥檙e getting a nice stove, mind you.鈥�

The whole family鈥檚 in on the act. Bronwen Manby's brother, Dave, is working as builder on the project. Today he was meant to be starting on site, but one of his workers is in "marital difficulties", so he has had to wait. Dave is no ordinary builder. He trained as a civil engineer.

鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be fairly bog standard,鈥� he says optimistically. 鈥淚 reckon the heat recovery system will come with an instruction booklet.鈥�

Dave鈥檚 sanguine state of mind is probably at least somewhat due to the similar work he has done in the French Alps. But he recognises that such refurbishments are not as common around these parts. 鈥淟ast thing I鈥檒l have to put in is a turnstile,鈥� he says.

As work on the project continues, we will follow the team 鈥� client, architect and builder 鈥� as they attempt to drastically improve air tightness and U-values - by at least a factor of ten. The house at present has a D-rated EPC certificate. Cohen wants to bring it up to Code for Sustainable Homes level four.

We will be following the project from demolition through to completion with updates, photos and videos. Cohen, Prewett and the Manbies will help us keep up to date with their progress from the site.