In this guest blog, CEO and Founder, Agnes Czako, shared her thoughts on navigating the road to scaling up their startup AirEx.
AirEx is a climate tech company on a mission to combat fuel poverty and climate change through innovative, cost-effective smart home solutions. Its CEO, Agnes Czako, founded the company after many years conducting over 30,000 fuel poverty assessments in some of the UK’s most vulnerable communities, where she witnessed thousands of families forced to choose between heating their energy-inefficient homes and buying food. This experience inspired her to focus on creating a significant impact in a low-cost, accessible way.
AirEx has developed and manufactured the world’s first smart air brick, designed to help homeowners and landlords reduce energy demand while managing indoor air quality. Heating buildings accounts for 36% of CO2 emissions across Europe, with poorly insulated, leaky, and energy-inefficient buildings requiring more energy to heat, leading to higher carbon emissions. Recent research has shown that air bricks (bricks with ventilation holes that provide natural airflow) are responsible for up to 15% of a home’s heat loss, equivalent to 34,000 GWh/year of energy waste in the UK alone. AirEx’s solutions address this issue by intelligently controlling airflow to prevent unnecessary waste. By offering a connected home solution with technology that is both easy to install and simple to use, AirEx is revolutionising the building retrofit market and working towards a sustainable future.
Journey to BBA Certification
The BBA Agrément Certificate is widely recognized in the construction sector as a reliable symbol of product quality and suitability for meeting UK building regulations. This certification sets AirEx apart, confirming our products meet the highest standards required for housing projects within the UK.
For an SME in the construction sector, navigating the certification process requires a strategic approach to ensure compliance and successful certification. Early engagement with the certification body is key as it helps innovators understand the specific aspects that need to be tested and the relevant standards applicable to their products. This is particularly crucial for innovative or novel products, where identifying the closest standard can be challenging. Maintaining communication with the certification body helps address any questions that might hinder the process as they arise.
Planning in sufficient time and resources for comprehensive product testing is also key, including savings impact, durability, robustness, and safety aspects. Thorough testing will not only meet certification requirements but also enhance the credibility of your products.
Further down the line, preparing for factory inspections or audits, if applicable is another thing to bear in mind. It is important that founders understand the requirements and ensure that factory operations – whether they are in-house or outsourced – align with the standards set by the certification body. Being well-prepared for the audit can prevent delays and facilitate a smoother certification process down the line. There is no one-size-fits-all approach; every product is different, and products developed by innovative SMEs are novel, but having sufficient rigour and diligence around the process is a must-have, regardless of what you are developing.
“To have BBA certification demonstrates that our products have been tested to the highest standards expected here in the UK and confirms the energy-saving performance. This is an exciting milestone in our mission to address fuel poverty and decarbonisation as it will provide confidence to our customers to deploy AirEx at scale.”
— Agnes Czako, Founder & CEO, AirEx Technologies
The BBA certification confirms the quality and effectiveness of AirEx’s Floorvent system, paving the way for large-scale implementation. With this accreditation, the AirEx Floorvent is fully approved for use in private and government-funded retrofit projects, making it eligible for inclusion in fuel poverty initiatives such as the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) and Home Upgrade Grant (HUG). As a result, AirEx can now be rolled out at scale, fully funded for vulnerable residents and communities who are most in need. Whether it be subsidised or self-funded, AirEx products will play a crucial role in improving the energy efficiency and decarbonisation of homes across the nation and beyond.
“We are delighted to have the certificate to provide our customers with the assurance of our product’s performance and compliance with Building Regulations and the requirements of the unique British standard for retrofit dwellings – PAS2035/30”
— Richard Kemp-Harper, CCO, AirEx Technologies
Paving the Way for Other Innovators
AirEx Technologies stands out as a leader within the industry, being one of the few innovators to achieve such milestones around regulation. They believe several key factors have been instrumental in helping them achieve their goals. They have robust independent data that supports the product’s efficacy; this credible evidence has been instrumental in validating their innovations and gaining the trust of stakeholders. Additionally, they have an exceptional team, a group of passionate, mission-driven people who have invested in engaging properly with stakeholders throughout the process. AirEx Technologies’ persistence in overcoming challenges has also been fundamental to achieving these milestones. Navigating the regulatory landscape of an innovative product within the built environment comes with many challenges, but it also offers tremendous opportunities for growth and improvement. The team’s determination and dedication have enabled them to navigate these complexities successfully, ensuring that AirEx can scale rapidly to make a significant impact.
AirEx Technologies’ success is a real-life example, which is proving a useful case study for fellow SMEs on the Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator, and the broader built environment sector. By breaking down barriers on the route to scale, companies like AirEx help pave the way for others to follow. AirEx also actively champions and supports other innovators – a commitment to fostering innovation and collaboration that strengthens the sector by promoting a culture of shared success and continuous improvement. Tackling climate change and fuel poverty is a mission shared between many innovators and AirEx truly believes in making more impact together.
For diverse startups with varying levels of access to knowledge and resources, it can be a convoluted process to navigate the industry – but some strategies can help.
“Seeking support from organisations like the Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator can provide valuable resources and guidance. Engaging with other innovators is also crucial, as sharing experiences and solutions can help navigate common challenges. Securing engagement at the right level within regulatory bodies is essential, and advocating for regulators to support innovation can lay the foundation for a smoother certification process. Lastly, conducting field studies early, even if the product still needs to be fully polished, can deliver valuable feedback from real customers and users, helping to refine and improve the product before full-scale deployment.”
— Agnes Czako, Founder & CEO, AirEx Technologies
Future Outlook and Industry Impact
While the UK is still behind in meeting our Net Zero targets and far more action is required, there is a reason to be optimistic about the future of the climate tech sector with much of the positive change backed privately and publicly across the UK. There is a critical focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from residential buildings, which currently account for one-fifth of the nation’s total emissions. Many homes throughout Europe were built without energy efficiency in mind, leading to high fuel costs and thermal discomfort for residents. This presents an enormous opportunity for tech companies to innovate. It will be mission-critical that these novel companies can scale rapidly as we work towards reaching net zero.
AirEx has a special role to play in one of the hardest to abate sectors: the built environment.
“With nearly 20,000 AirEx units already deployed across thousands of households in the UK and recent regulatory approvals opening new markets, AirEx expects to extend its reach to hundreds of thousands of homes within the next three years. This large-scale deployment will significantly contribute to eliminating fuel poverty and decarbonising the UK housing stock, demonstrating AirEx Technologies’ commitment to a sustainable future.”
— Agnes Czako, Founder & CEO, AirEx Technologies
AirEx’s journey with other participants of the Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator is shaping a collaboration at the intersection of retrofit market and the clean tech ecosystem.
Watch this video to learn more about the accelerator.
Find out more about Undaunted’s suite of programmes designed to support climate innovation.
The Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator is supported by the Greater London Authority’s Better Futures programme, co-funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
