The REFIT project, funded by EPSRC under the BuildTEDDI (Transforming Energy Demand in Buildings through Digital Innovation) programme, was established in 2012 and involves members of the 3S group and Tyndall Centre at UEA working in collaboration with research teams in civil engineering, electrical engineering and design at the universities of Loughborough and Strathclyde.

The aim of the project as a whole is to understand how smart home technologies (sensing and monitoring networks combined with advanced control devices) might provide tailored retrofit decision-support to UK householders. This is being explored through a field trial of 20 homes that will all be kitted-out with market-ready smart home technologies.

As part of the project, the UEA team is leading social science research focussed on how householders domesticate smart home technologies into their everyday lives. Through in-depth ethnographic methods with the field trial households we are exploring how households use smart home technologies within their domestic practices and how this influences (and is in turn influenced by) household dynamics, relationships and decision-making.

People involved: Tom Hargreaves and Richard Hauxwell-Baldwin

Project duration: 2012-2015

Funded by: EPSRC

Project Website