Renowned architect and TV presenter George Clarke and his education charity MOBIE (Ministry of Building Innovation and Education), international architecture practice Grimshaw and global construction and consultancy business Mace are inviting young people from across the UK to imagine ingenious ways to upgrade our existing homes, or to re-use old or vacant buildings, to help us reduce our need for energy and our impact on the climate – to Eco-Fix our homes.

The challenge is rooted in finding creative ways to reduce home energy usage, save precious resources and protect our planet. Participants are being encouraged to explore what it takes to make our homes more energy and resource efficient, to reduce the costs of heating and lights, to emit little or no carbon emissions, to help protect ourselves against climate change and to create affordable, functional, comfortable places in which to live.

Although the retrofitting of homes usually means improving their energy efficiency, it can also mean adapting to new ways of living and meeting the current and future needs of the occupants. It is a massive task that needs everyone’s help. That is why we are asking young people for their ideas about how to make our existing homes and neighbourhoods more energy efficient.

Participating students will unleash their creativity by selecting a building or buildings they know that are energy inefficient and in vital need of improvement. This could be their home, apartment block, street, wherever they live, or they can pick any homes they know of that need attention. They will apply their design skills and imagination to present proposals for a retrofit scheme that will update, upgrade, repurpose, and possibly extend the home(s).