‘Millions of Britain’s houses were built over 100 years ago and many have had no material improvements made to them. If we don’t make them energy efficient and well insulated they’ll be increasingly uncomfortable to live in and, regardless of our interest in our history, people will stop wanting to live in older properties in favour of new, efficient, warm and comfortable houses.

‘When people don’t want to live in older houses, or take on the costs of living in one, the value of our older houses will go down, which will make the case for investing in them to bring them up to modern standards more economically unviable for private owners. The result? Our older houses will fall into a state of disrepair, empty and dilapidated, which will impact on our cities and towns in so many ways – aesthetically, socially, physically and economically. And as our older housing stock is carbon hungry, we’ll never reach our carbon reduction targets unless we sort it out.’

Some of the greatest potential savings are locked up in the UK’s period properties, so a decent retrofit can make a serious dent in owners’ energy bills. ‘Insulation can save owners of older homes over a thousand pounds a year,’ says Mukti. Paul and Mukti launched CosyHome Company [which later changed name to Mitchell & Dickinson] in a bid to make period properties as warm as they are beautiful. ‘We offer CosyGlazing – a new, virtually invisible secondary glazing – as well as loft, draught, floor and sloping ceiling insulation,’ Mukti tells us. ‘Together these save up to 50% of the heat from leaking out of your house. It makes you warm, offers a return on investment of 10-20% per year and is good for the planet, too.’