The National Retrofit Hub has published A Vision for a Strong Retrofit System, a new report setting out what needs to change if the UK is to improve homes consistently and at the scale required.
Produced in partnership with Baily Garner, the report is being launched at the National Retrofit Hub’s Retrofit, Obviously! Summit, which brings together people working across the sector. While the Summit provides a valuable moment to introduce the report and discuss its findings, its purpose reaches far beyond the event.
The National Retrofit Hub is inviting people and organisations across the UK to use the report as a framework for considering what needs to change and the part they can play in creating a stronger retrofit system.
The report welcomes the opportunity presented by the Government’s Warm Homes Plan. However, it argues that the plan’s ambitions will only be realised if the UK also strengthens the wider system needed to support consistent delivery across every tenure and locality.
Short-term funding and fragmented programmes have made it difficult for organisations to retain skilled teams and build lasting delivery capacity. The report calls for public investment (beyond individual measures and programmes into crucial enabling conditions like capacity) to improve homes now while leaving behind stronger local capability for the future.
It also makes the case for changing how success is understood. The number of measures installed matters, but the sector must also consider whether homes become healthier, more comfortable, affordable and resilient for the people living in them.
Sara Edmonds, Co-Director of the National Retrofit Hub, said: “The Warm Homes Plan gives us a significant opportunity to improve millions of homes, but programmes alone will not create the retrofit system the country needs.
"We need to build the capability that allows good work to continue beyond individual funding cycles. That means giving organisations greater certainty, making better use of local knowledge, and involving communities much earlier in the decisions that affect their homes.
"This report offers a practical framework for that change and an invitation to everyone working across the system to consider the role they can play.”
Matthew Allcock, Retrofit Technical Lead at Baily Garner added: “Baily Garner is delighted to be sponsoring the National Retrofit Hub’s flagship Retrofit, Obviously! Conference and to co-author NRH’s timely, much-needed report on the benefits of an integrated retrofit system.
"Baily Garner is in full alignment with the event’s call to action to serve as a catalyst to bring together the various constituent parts of a fully functioning, effective and advantageous retrofit system for all. The report calls for an integrated, systems approach exploring how a shared retrofit system driven at all levels can unlock healthier homes, thriving places, long-term jobs and economic opportunity, and delivery of required carbon and energy savings at scale.
"In our role as an official partner and supporter of the National Retrofit Hub, providing advisory, technical support, and practical boots-on-the-ground delivery for key government-backed decarbonisation schemes like the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) and Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (SHF), we take great pleasure in supporting the event and report.”
The report identifies seven foundations that can help turn individual programmes into a stable national system:
- Long-term direction: a clear national vision that gives organisations the confidence to plan, invest and build capacity.
- Local flexibility: the freedom for local areas to develop place-based approaches that reflect their buildings and communities.
- Shared decision-making: meaningful involvement of delivery organisations and communities when policy and programmes are shaped.
- Whole homes and neighbourhoods: an approach that responds to the needs of the home and its wider neighbourhood rather than focusing on isolated measures.
- Outcomes that matter: a broader measure of success that considers people’s health, comfort and energy costs alongside the performance of their homes.
- Lasting capacity: public investment in people and partnerships alongside capital works.
- Quality and confidence: stronger quality assurance supported by better information, effective coordination and proportionate oversight.
Change is already under way. The report includes examples of work that is already helping different parts of the retrofit system work together. The examples show how lived experience and practical delivery knowledge can improve decisions while building local capability that lasts beyond individual programmes.
Read the report here.
