Public Funding for Castrads Limited

"Castrads manufactures cast iron radiators from our factory in Manchester and sells them through our shops in London and New York. Electric radiators are interesting to us because 2.2 million UK homes rely on electric heating. In addition, we all have a duty to reduce our carbon emissions. Home heating is the biggest use of energy here in the UK, and is mainly powered by fossil fuels. But, renewable electricity sources are booming, so electric radiators will be an important part of the heating mix in the future. The technology to convert one of our radiators into an electric radiator has existed for a long time. However it sells poorly and has a low customer satisfaction rate. We plan to use Human Centred Design to explore new options for converting cast iron radiators to electric radiators. Our aim is to create electric radiators that delight our customers."

We all have a duty to use energy wisely, and there are products on the market that can help. For example, smart heating controls. However, we also value our cultural heritage, which includes period buildings. Some people find that the aesthetics of smart heating controls are incompatible with period style buildings. We plan to explore the human issues around smart heating control design in period style buildings, and to identify the types of products that that would most suit the owners of period style homes.

Castrads manufactures traditionally styled cast iron radiators but is looking to harness modern methods to enable a competitive edge in a global market.