Comment: Retrofit at Scale – Getting the UK’s house in order

Investing in innovation is fundamental to meeting global emissions targets – no more so than in the built environment. With 39 per cent of global energy-related emissions accounted for by existing building stock, it is imperative that the UK prioritises retrofit programmes – unlocking benefits related to energy efficiency and fire safety. 

 Innovation is not solely associated with designing new. The World Economic Forum has indicated that we will not meet our climate targets if new buildings are prioritised at the expense of upgrading our existing buildings. In the knowledge that 80 per cent of buildings that stand today are anticipated to still be in use by 2050, Arup produced Retrofit at Scale – a publication articulating the innovative system-led approach required to accelerate retrofit  in the UK. It looks beyond technical advancements so that occupant health and comfort, as well as community resilience against extreme weather events, can be enhanced, helping to deliver a green economy.

Cross-sector engagement, cross-sector benefits

Making our homes and infrastructure fit for purpose is paramount to us all, and it’s an issue that transcends political cycles. The new Labour government has clearly outlined its intentions to accelerate the UK’s path to net zero, as well as reduce household energy bills and ensure private rented homes meet minimum energy efficiency standards by 2030. The Warm Homes Plan sets out to achieve these goals by supporting investment for home insulation and incentivising low carbon heating.

Aiming to unlock private sector investment, these commitments can help to mobilise the required national retrofitting supply chain and commitment to upskilling. Much work is still to be done in these areas if the UK is to deliver a retrofit programme at the scale and pace required to meet climate targets – at least 15 million homes need to be retrofitted by 2030.

Cross-sector collaboration is crucial to accelerating implementation, bringing in different voices and areas of expertise to articulate the range of benefits associated with retrofit. To drive progress at pace, we must look beyond the payback of energy, which is frequently the sole focus when attracting related investment.

We must better analyse and communicate the indirect financial benefits of retrofit, such as climate resilience, individuals’ wellbeing, productivity and energy security. For example, we know that people living in housing with poor ventilation and damp are more likely to suffer from both physical and mental health conditions - this in turn increases the pressures on public health spending. Retrofit at scale can help to tackle this – but as the direct benefits are hard to quantify, it is rarely acknowledged.

Retrofit at scale – for example, programmes undertaken at a neighbourhood level – can address multiple place-based challenges simultaneously, minimising disruption. By upgrading infrastructure efficiently, benefits can be maximised with reduced costs over a longer term. Taking this into consideration from the outset can make otherwise cost-prohibited retrofit projects viable from the start.

Unlocking confidence with data-driven solutions

It is crucial that both private finance institutions and the government are confident that retrofit schemes will deliver improvements – focussing initially on tangible outcomes such as reduced carbon emissions, energy efficiency and bill savings.

To provide confidence to both the private and public sector, and in turn unlock future investment, the development of a robust data baseline will be essential to reliably informing and monitoring retrofit delivery.

This baseline should encompass up-to-date information on building energy consumption, construction and heating systems to allow the positive outcomes of retrofit to be monitored more accurately. This will help empower the government to track the decarbonisation of existing buildings nationally, further progressing the UK’s ability to meet its 2050 net zero target.

Moreover, a robust baseline of data will enable local authorities and social housing providers to more accurately identify and prioritise homes and buildings requiring retrofit according to need and public benefits. This reduces the risk associated with current data gaps, related to understanding stock and identifying appropriate measures. 

Further increasing cross-sector confidence, continuous learning and performance-linked targets can be embedded– for example, through a positive feedback loop that drives quality in delivery and accelerates uptake.

Ensuring a human-centred approach

At both individual and neighbourhood scale, retrofit needs to work for everyone. The retrofit process can understandably appear overwhelming and disruptive to individual homeowners. The future benefits of lower energy bills and house price improvements are not necessarily sufficient incentives. Innovation is required throughout the system, such as accessing finance through the mortgage market.

Retrofit can provide a much broader range of benefits than addressing the initial need for building fabric improvements.  A holistic review at project inception, which brings together as many stakeholders as possible, can help to identify and test the deliverability of wider outcomes, maximised through delivery at scale.  A well-facilitated brief development stage, bringing together cross-sector actors, can help to unlock system-led innovation. This can help to ensure that core objectives – namely the fulfilment of net zero and energy efficiency targets – are achieved.

Becci Taylor is Arup Director and Retrofit at Scale business leader for UKIMEA