The Construction Leadership Council publishes a new blueprint for tackling the UK's inefficient housing stock, as Bankers for Net Zero calls for policy interventions to drive green home investment
An expert blueprint for the decarbonisation of the UK's housing stock has called on the government to invest £5.3bn over the next four years to kickstart efforts to retrofit the country's homes.
Published today, the Construction Leadership Council's (CLC) National Retrofit Strategy sets out a 20-year blueprint to green Britain's 28 million homes, which together contribute a fifth of the country's carbon emissions. The blueprint - which is backed by 50 organisations including representatives of the energy and water sectors - argues that an immediate initial investment would kickstart the retrofit market and generate a raft of auxiliary benefits: creating 100,000 new jobs, saving the NHS £1.4bn, and slashing household energy bills by as much as £436 a year.
"Given our homes contribute 20 per cent of the nation's carbon emissions it is essential that we start to retrofit them to make them more energy efficient," said Andy Mitchell, CEO of Thames Tideway and co-chair of the CLC task force that put together the blueprint. "The CLC is calling on the government to adopt the National Retrofit Strategy to make our homes greener. Our strategy has been fully costed and offers a roadmap about how the government can create a low carbon built environment by 2040."
The CLC strategy comes just a day after the financial campaign group Bankers for Net Zero published its own analysis detailing steps the government needs to take to retrofit British homes.
The Bankers for Net Zero analysis calls for a coordinated, long-term approach that drives down the costs of retrofits, while pushing up the value of retrofitted properties. Its analysis estimates the country's households could save at least £7.5bn on energy costs, with a cut in energy use of 25 per cent delivering energy savings of £270 per household.
"This important briefing shows how, with COP26 taking place later this year, a government-led National Retrofit Strategy is urgently needed to kickstart the retrofit revolution required to reach the UK government's goal of net zero emissions by 2050 and help create jobs," said Paul Ellis, Chief Executive at Ecology Building Society.
"We'd like to see this deliver a wide-ranging package of measures to support green building including: fiscal incentives such as stamp duty reform to incentivise greener homes; slashing VAT on renovations; tightening building regulations; building the retrofit supply chain and driving the market for green finance."
The latest proposals come amidst reports Number 10 and the Treasury are in discussions over how to replace the Green Homes Grant scheme, which has been dogged by criticism from householders and clean tech installers, and is set to face steep budget cuts from next month.