A design for retrofitting older houses to make them more energy efficient has won high praise from the government.

Deb Cripps’ winning submission was based on the work she and her husband did on their 1970s bungalow in Cronk Y Berry, which she estimated had saved them approximately £1,000 on energy bills.

The Retrofit for the Future ideas competition ran from May to mid-November with residents asked to submit designs which could significantly improve the energy performance of an existing Manx home to make it a future-ready building.

Mrs Cripps said: ’I used our home as an example of what can be achieved and showed how we have managed to reduce our annual energy bills by £1,000.

’I believe that the subject of improving energy efficiency of our homes is very important and that everyone should be helped to do this.

’When we started work on our house five years ago we had to research ways of doing this and find local companies with the expertise to carry out this kind of work.’

Work the couple carried out included installing energy efficient roofing, walls and floors combining insulation and technology.

’There are many ways to improve the energy efficiency of our homes and many aren’t too expensive or too time consuming. There are great local companies out there who can do this type of work, Mrs Cripps said.

Environment Minister Geoffrey Boot MHK presented Mrs Cripps with the cash prize of £5,000.

’The challenge of significantly improving the energy efficiency of residential buildings is not to be underestimated,’ he said.

’The long-term goal is to have desirable, warm, affordable homes for life which contribute to meeting emissions targets and help form part of the island’s response to climate change.

Richard Strivens and Summer Fearnley, were both awarded £1,000 for their submissions for energy efficiency upgrades to Victorian style houses and social housing.