Retrofit Transformation: All Female Design and Build
"There needs to be more opportunities, visibility and celebration of the achievements of work that does this. It should be normal, not exceptional." - Samantha Mant, Halcyan Water
It's a privilege being allowed, week by week into people's homes, to see how they live their lives and witnessing what they are doing to make change.
Film making is by it's nature intrusive, turning up with a camera and asking questions, sometimes gently prodding - possibly invasive, it requires a subtle touch.
Homes are personal, intimate and protected. That's why the challenge of documenting retrofit works encompasses a few different responsibilities. You have to record decision making processes to illustrate what's being installed, whilst respecting that no one home is the same and no one lifestyle choice is right or wrong.
For Kat Parsons and her partner Fiona, that lifestyle choice was a simple one. They wanted to be released from the bustle of town living, to immerse themselves in a cornucopia of natural delights, with minimal impact on the world. And when you get here, you can see what a great choice they made.
The couple had travelled extensively around the countryside into the wilds of Suffolk to identify their base. A family sized homes in this corner of the world often come in two archetypes. Chunky country cottages, pricey, drafty - full of rural chintz - or more recently the charmless new builds being rammed onto patches of land with limited transport, facilities or character.
The thing about these two is. If it's easy. They probably aren't going to do it. The home they chose in the end ticked a few boxes, rural, able to be developed, oodles of countryside and located in a community of established homes. But looking at original pictures, you have to admire the vision they must of had - to think the original home could become what it has.
Kat Got A Website To Tell Her Story
The Metric
Kat and Fiona, had a vision, found their home, and then made a decision which would change their lives and inspire a cohort of people, in just the sort of way heroes do - by taking action.
In the worlds of politics, academia, law and construction (to name just a few) we know that gender bias affects everything from pay, to mentorship, career development and ultimately physical and mental well being. The affects of this bias define the income of females, their ability to progress in their chosen careers and how effectively they can demonstrate their ability and visibility to inspire others.
Kat and Fiona took the step to remediate this. What, they asked, would happen if they tried to retrofit their home using an all female cast. Why do I use that phrase - cast?
In film they have the Bechdel Test a metric where the lead characters, who are women, get the opportunity to develop their own narrative, a story, defined by decisions they make, and actions they take, without the need to discuss, be influenced or controlled by male characters.
Maybe Kat and Fiona could coin their own moniker for what they have achieved? In that, almost every single stage of construction was directed by, planned, enacted and executed by females. I say almost almost because, as Kat and Fiona found out, there are still some trades where the access points for women scaffolders, builders and ancillary trades are still pretty poor - so there are still some disciplines where females are vastly under represented. In those times the only option was to use male allies.
Retrofit and Hope
In a time of conflict, there will always be scions of change. From the tidal shift in public opinion that propels plumber Hannah Spencer MP into Parliament. To retrofit builds where the cast is passing metrics we can all endorse.
It is fascinating to witness the seeds of change in residential, infrastructure and industrial projects across the UK. We have already written about influencers like Ele George, Samantha Mant, Emma Fletcher, Imandeep Kaur, Melissa Mean and well, the cast list is growing bigger. Kat and Fiona and their illustrious network of change makers can all be added to this list.
But we'll leave the last words to one of our favourite community leaders Ellora Coupe.
“What Kat, Fiona and their team have done here is far more than deliver a beautiful project, but a blueprint that many of our members have been following for the last year. They have quietly redefined who gets to lead, decide and shape a home.
This project matters because it makes something visible that has too often been hidden in plain sight, that women are not only present in construction and retrofit, but capable of leading it at every single level with clarity, care and technical excellence.
There is something powerful about seeing a home transformed through an entirely female led lens. Not because it excludes, but because it rebalances. It shows what happens when different experiences, priorities and ways of working are given space to lead. The result is not just a building that performs better, but a process that feels more considered, more collaborative and more human.
For the wider retrofit movement, this is deeply important. We cannot solve the climate challenge with only half the population fully visible or fully supported. Projects like this expand the edges of what can now be seen as normal. They create new reference points for homeowners, for young women considering careers, and for an industry that urgently needs to evolve.
Kat and her team are not just delivering a retrofit. They are opening a door and showing others that they belong here too and are needed and a highly capable part of the workforce. - Ellora Coupe - Founder, Her Retrofit Space
We had the opportunity to visit this amazing project thanks to the support of Halcyan Water and we take great pleasure in showing the case study of why Halcyan was the chosen solution to another knotty problem that they discovered.
Hard water. Really hard.
If you've got this far, you might be interested in a readers only tour around the house, that Kat took us on. You can watch that here, but don't tell everyone - we want to finish it off with the reveal when we hear the final paint has been brushed on.... it's just weeks away.
If you're interested in finding out more about working for or with people in retrofit. You could start here;
