‘Building something better’: the UK residents retrofitting their homes amid the climate crisis

In Melrose Avenue, Birmingham, some properties have been adapted to be more energy-efficient as part of a community project. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

At first glance, Melrose Avenue is just two ordinary rows of terrace houses, tucked behind Moseley Road in Birmingham. Only the eye-catching orange benches and a pair of communal pink bicycles suggest something special is happening here.

On a sunny Tuesday afternoon, Jan Burley, a retired social worker who lives at number 10, fills her watering can and helps the children and grandchildren on the street to water the mint and coriander they are growing on shared planters. “I didn’t do gardening until I was 60, but if you can get the children young they will care more about the world to come,” she says.