The UK needs a radical overhaul of existing housing stock if it is to meet emissions targets, with more than one home every minute needing to be refurbished in the UK between now and 2050, says a new report from the UK Green Building Council.
The report says four out of five homes that will be occupied in 2050 have already been built and that 25 million existing homes will not meet the insulation standards required by mid-century.
The UK needs to cut carbon emissions by 80% by then – and a third of those emissions come from heating draughty buildings.
But critics say ministers have been far too slow to impose a national programme of home renovation which would save on bills and improve people’s health, comfort and happiness. It would also create thousands of jobs.
The government’s Green Deal scheme for owner-occupiers collapsed amid criticism that interest rates for insulation were too high, and that the insulation itself was too much hassle.
The government has failed to produce a replacement solution to stimulate necessary demand for refurbishments among owner-occupiers. The Treasury is reluctant to throw public money at improvements that will increase the sale value of private homes.
Meanwhile, there has been no response on the Bonfield review, which has looked at ways to increase energy efficiency in the building stock.
The report recommends:
- Setting staged targets for refurbishing buildings;
- Reintroducing the “zero-carbon” standard for buildings from 2020;
- Recognising energy efficiency as a national infrastructure priority;
- Setting long-term trajectories for ratcheting up home energy standards;
- Obliging commercial buildings to display the amount of energy they use.
It says the construction industry needs certainty about what it is expected to deliver, and measurement to discover what is already being built. This should stimulate innovation, it says.
Julie Hirigoyen, head of the GBC, told BBC News there was a great prize to be grasped in upgrading building stock: “People will have warmer homes and lower bills; they will live longer, happier lives; we will be able to address climate change and carbon emissions.
“We will also be creating many thousands of jobs and exporting our best skills in innovation.
“Driving up demand for retro-fitting homes is essential for any policy to be a success – the Green Deal told us just offering financial incentives isn’t necessarily the only solution. We need to make it all easy, attractive and affordable.
“The good thing is that the business community is really starting to recognise the opportunity.”
Ms Hirigoyen called for support for innovation among builders. The GBC pointed to a firm, Q-Bot, which insulates floors by sending robots to creep under floorboards and spray them with foam.
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