Nine upgraded York homes open free on 17 and 18 October after the Copmanthorpe house cancelled; volunteer champions also explain heat pumps and insulation.
Nine York homes that have been insulated, fitted with heat pumps or taken off gas altogether open their doors free this weekend, and a new group of volunteers is offering to talk neighbours through the same changes the rest of the year.
Updated 15 October: the wheelchair-friendly 1996 house in Copmanthorpe, due to open on Sunday 18 October, is now listed as cancelled on York Community Energy’s booking page. The other nine homes are still taking bookings.
The volunteers are called Home Upgrade Champions. They are trained and supported by York Community Energy, the member-led social enterprise based at the Gatehouse in York Cemetery, and they share what they have done to their own homes through informal chats and community events. The topics run from draught-proofing, insulation and heating controls to heat pumps and solar panels.
The network launches as winter approaches and, as its organisers point out, just after Ofgem’s energy price cap rose by 4% on 1 October.
“Seeing one working gave us the confidence”
One of the champions is Elizabeth, who lives in South Bank. Her old boiler was near the end of its life, and she began to look at a heat pump instead. Environmental concerns were her main reason, according to the project, but she also wanted to be sure the house would stay warm.
What settled it was visiting other people’s homes on a previous York Open Eco Homes weekend. She has since had a heat pump installed and signed up as a champion so she can offer others the reassurance she got.
“On paper, heat pumps sounded great. But seeing one working in somebody’s home and talking to the people living with it gave us the confidence that we could do it too,” she said.
“Visiting homes through York Open Eco Homes was really valuable for us, and that’s what I hope I can offer other people as a Home Upgrade Champion.”
Elizabeth has been meeting residents at Lapin café to talk through her own experience and point people towards further information and support. The café backs the scheme and has window artwork by local artist Ali Hunter. A sign on the table in the photograph above offers a free humidity sensor to anyone who stops for a chat.
The champions page says the aim is to show what these measures do “without shying away from discussing the challenges”, and that the network hopes in time to spread beyond the city into North Yorkshire.
How to talk to a champion
York residents can email champions@yorkcommunityenergy.org.uk to arrange a chat with a champion, who may well live nearby. The same address takes enquiries from anyone who would like to become one.
There is also an informal evening, Energy Drinks with Champions, at the Duke of York pub on King’s Square on Thursday 22 October from 7.30pm to 10pm. Entry is free and there is no booking, though York Community Energy asks people to register interest so it can gauge numbers. You do not need to be a member.
York Open Eco Homes, 17 and 18 October
The open homes weekend runs from 10am to 4pm on both days. Entry is free, but you must book a time slot for each home you want to see, because some houses are small and the full address is only sent after booking. Tours last 30 to 60 minutes. Book through York Community Energy’s Ticket Tailor page, or leave a message on 01904 922781 and the team will call back. Children must be accompanied.
Saturday’s homes are east of the Ouse and Sunday’s are west of it. This is what each one has, as listed by the organisers when we checked on 10 October:
| Day | Home | What you will see |
|---|---|---|
| Sat 17 | 1930s semi, Fulford area | Highly insulated and airtight, triple glazing, underfloor heating, MVHR ventilation, heat pump, solar PV, gas removed |
| Sat 17 | 2001 end terrace, Rawcliffe/Clifton area (grant-funded) | Heat pump, solar PV, battery, gas removed |
| Sat 17 | 2014 detached house, Strensall | Heat pump, solar PV, battery, gas removed, electric car |
| Sat 17 | Victorian semi, Fishergate area | Insulation, triple-glazed sash-lookalike windows, MVHR, heat pump, wastewater heat recovery, solar PV, battery, electric car |
| Sun 18 | 1880s end terrace, off Bishopthorpe Road | Insulation, air source heat pump, solar PV, batteries, electric car, gas removed |
| Sun 18 | 1960s detached house, Dringhouses | Insulation, triple glazing, underfloor heating, MVHR, heat pump, solar PV, electric car, gas removed; much of the work done DIY |
| Sun 18 | 1996 detached house, Copmanthorpe (wheelchair-friendly) | Cancelled, says York Community Energy |
| Sun 18 | Victorian end terrace, Knavesmire area | Highly insulated and airtight, Passivhaus-standard extensions, MVHR, solar PV, battery, green roofs, gas removed |
| Sun 18 | Passivhaus extension to an 1831 semi, Bishopthorpe (wheelchair-friendly) | Airtight, triple-glazed extension with MVHR; solar PV on the main house |
| Sun 18 | New community-build homes, Lowfield Green, Acomb | One Passivhaus-standard house type with MVHR and wood fibre insulation; one highly insulated type with a heat pump |
The individual listings carry the hosts’ own stories. The Strensall couple, in a modern estate house that was already fairly efficient, say they started with an electric car in 2020, added a heat pump and electric cooking early this year and solar panels with a battery over the summer; they now generate enough to cover at least half of their energy needs, and say the house stays at a more even temperature all year. The Fishergate family moved in in January 2022 from what the listing calls a “draughty, cold and damp listed property”, have since insulated the suspended timber floors and the loft, and publish their heat pump’s figures on the public Heat Pump Monitor. That family has joined the champions network too.
The weekend is part of the York Environment Festival, which lists more than 100 free events between 3 October and 1 November. For questions about a particular home, the organisers name Ivana Jakubkova at ivana@yorkcommunityenergy.org.uk.
Who is behind it
The champions network is a project of the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York, working with York Community Energy and Abundance Investment. It runs from April 2026 to September 2027, according to York Community Energy, and is funded through the Carbon Negative Challenge Fund, awarded by the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority and Mayor David Skaith.
What it means for you
If you are weighing up a heat pump, insulation or solar panels, the cheapest first step is a conversation with someone who has already done it. Email the champions address above, drop into the Duke of York on 22 October, or book a slot at one of the nine homes this weekend before they fill up. For more on what is happening across the city, see things to do in York and what’s on in York this month.
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