At the last meeting with (13-09-13) Dublin City Council steering group, most of the two groups of case studies were agreed. 6 (possibly 7) no. houses representing energy efficieny-retrofitted dwellings and 6 (possibly 7) representing largely untouched dwellings, ripe for works. That allows our consortium's teams to start visiting households, digging in their attic, looking at fuel bills and creating BERs, etc.
We visited two house today: both meant to be representing ordinary, largely untouched dwellings of different kinds (one in East Wall, one in Ranelagh): however found that both suffered some level of rising damp as well as historic water ingress issues: it just shows that as soon as you attempt energy efficincy measures and lowering fuel bills of existing buildings you bang up against maintenance issues and dealing with the 'sins of the past'. You also end up considering the homeowners desire (or lack of) to make changes in context of age, finance, lifestsyle and even the built-in bedroom furniture that won't be moved!
Energy demand reduction targets could be wildly wrong if some, let alone most, houses have as much to put right before you can get to the stage that allows focusing on effecting long term, appropriate energy efficiency measures.