The national retrofit strategy is a policy proposal from the construction industry to convert the national housing stock to clean fuel and make it energy efficient.
With most house fuelled by gas, and many poorly insulated, Britain’s 28 million homes contribute 20% of the country’s carbon emissions.
Government initiatives to date have been piecemeal incentives – the green deal, green homes grants – with little conspicuous success.
The Construction Leadership Council’s (CLC) national retrofit strategy* sets out a 20-year blueprint to make the housing stock more energy efficient. It is structured into four phases and requires government to invest an initial £5.3bn over the next four years to help kickstart the retrofit market.
Produced for the CLC by the Federation of Master Builders, it was published for consultation in December. The consultation period closed at the beginning of this month.
CLC co-chair Andy Mitchell said: “Given our homes contribute 20% of the nation’s carbon emissions it is essential that we start to retrofit them to make them more energy efficient. With widespread industry support 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 domestic RMI (repair, maintenance & improvement) working group is chaired by Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders. He said: “The fact that 50 organisations are backing the CLC’s national retrofit strategy is a recognition of the scale of the problem that needs to be addressed. The retrofitting of our 28 million homes needs to be treated as a national infrastructure project. It is very encouraging that the construction sector in all its forms wants to step up and work within a long-term strategy. At a time of economic uncertainty and growing pressure to tackle climate change the CLC’s national retrofit strategy offer a ready-made solution for the government to take forward and showcase to the world at COP 26 [26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties] in November.”
* Greening our existing homes: national retrofit strategy – a consultative document
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