Keeping the warmth in: 230 draught excluders, 690 kg of textile waste, and homes that cost less to heat

Home heating accounts for around 14% of UK emissions. Draughty doors can cause up to 15% heat loss in a home. Little A.R.K.'s response was a draught excluder made from preloved fabric — and a collaboration with young adults with learning disabilities who helped fill every single one. There is a textile waste problem and there is an energy poverty problem. Little A.R.K.'s draught excluder project addressed both at once — using fabric that would otherwise have been discarded to make something that directly reduces heating loss in the homes of Merton's most vulnerable residents.

Good Fabric, a local eco-fabric company based in Wimbledon, supplied surplus fabric samples as fill material. Additional scraps were saved from community workshops and other Preloved Studio activities — offcuts, remnants, and pieces too small for other projects but perfect for packing into a draught excluder cover.

The covers themselves were made by 19 volunteers at the Preloved Studio, cutting and sewing preloved fabrics into long, colourful tubes ready to be filled. The filling work was shared with a remarkable group of collaborators: Merton Mencap's Giving Back Club, a programme for young adults with learning disabilities and autism who volunteer to do good deeds for their community.

Eleven Giving Back Club members took part across four sessions — measuring, stuffing, and finishing each excluder with care and pride. Distribution was prioritised for those most at risk from cold homes and high energy bills: elderly residents, those seeking wellbeing services, and households impacted by the cost-of-living crisis.