Upgrading Britain’s Homes coalition
UKGBC is convening organisations across the UK, from businesses and social housing providers to charities and consumer groups, to champion scaled-up investment and game-changing national policies that will drive a once-in-a-generation upgrade of Britain’s homes.
With a permanent cut in energy bills and carbon emissions on offer, this coalition is committed to breaking the logjam that is currently preventing widescale retrofit. By drawing together the latest evidence and best expertise, we have calculated the size of overall investment needed from government and the private sector and we are building broad agreement around new game-changing policy proposals.
The current state of Britain’s homes
What is the coalition calling for?
We are calling on the Government and opposition parties to commit to a step-change in levels of long-term investment in home retrofit and introduce bold policies that match the size of the challenge.
As manifestos and plans for government are being written, the group is calling for at least £64 billion national government investment over the next decade on insulation to help make everyone’s homes comfortable and bring energy bills down, and to switch to clean heating such as heat pumps to slash Britain’s reliance on expensive climate-wrecking gas and oil.
This would provide grants and support for those who need them and fund a nationwide skills programme, household information and guidance services and capacity building for local authorities. The group is also calling for a new suite of powerful policies as the central planks of a wider long-term national home upgrade strategy. These would include a stamp duty ‘rebate to renovate’ incentive, a requirement for minimum energy performance levels for rented homes, and to move social and environmental levies from electricity bills to general taxation.
How much should the UK Government invest to make upgrading the nation’s homes affordable and attractive?
Working with industry experts and academics, the UK Green Building Council has a created this calculator to open the books so you can ‘play’ Chancellor and Secretary of State. The calculator has been developed to allow an evidence-based debate on the magnitude of investment and policies needed and to help us all assess policy decisions and priorities.
Use the calculator to work out, as Chancellor, how much you would invest over what time frame. Who would you prioritise – people living social housing or privately owned homes? Fuel-poor residents or asset-rich owner occupiers? Which retrofit measures would you prioritise? How will your choices impact on energy bills, returns to the Treasury, public health, and climate emissions? As Secretary of State, what policies and regulations would you introduce to encourage private investment and shift markets?
Who is part of the coalition?
We are calling on organisations, companies and leaders across the built environment sector to join the coalition and promote the recommendations as ambassadors across their sectors and to political and policy decision makers.
The coalition has been convened by the UK Green Building Council. Founding Partners are leading UKGBC members from across the built environment, technology, academia, banking and energy sectors who have contributed their thought leadership, time and resources to make the project happen.
They include UKGBC’s Advancing Net Zero Programme Partners: Bam, Berkeley Group, Buro Happold, CBRE, Grosvenor, Hoare Lea, ISG, JLL, Lloyds Banking Group, Rockwool, Turner & Townsend. And six Project Partners: Clarion Housing Group, E.ON, the Greater London Authority, Arup, HTA, Lendology.cic, and SE2
The coalition is drawing on the expertise of consultant research partners including C-Path and Leeds Beckett University.
How can my organisation join?
Any organisation interested in joining the coalition can sign up via the link below.
Work is currently under development and we expect the coalition to publish its first report in the autumn.
19 million homes need updating, as they’re rated ‘D’ or below.
500,000 skilled jobs across the country can be created by retrofit.
£1.4bn saved by the NHS if we retrofit the nation’s homes.
Other retrofit resources
The Retrofit Playbook
Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap for the Built Environment
BUILD UPON Framework: Capturing the Benefits of Building Renovation
Driving retrofit at scale: funding opportunities for local government
Advancing Net Zero Partners
Our Advancing Net Zero work is made possible thanks to our programme partners
Research Partners
We’d like to thank the following for their support on this project
Building Life
With thanks to our Building Life partners for their ongoing support
