COMMENT 6 Comment
We need to counter retrofi t short-termism
Social housing providers are under pressure to bring properties up to EPC ‘C’ rating by 2030. Gary Doxey at windows manufacturer Eurocell warns that the challenge extends beyond this, to countering short-termism, based on a recent Housing Management & Maintenance study.
I
t’s well-known that the UK is home to some of the oldest social housing stock in Europe. Construction of new properties has been painfully slow in recent years, with just 2,260 built in 2024/25. Tight budgets and lack of
skilled local labour are largely to blame – factors that also make it diffi cult to retrofi t existing properties to meet new energy-effi ciency standards, particularly those built in the post-war era. As mandatory deadlines get closer, social housing providers may
understandably feel that they have no choice but to choose the most cost- eff ective option that ticks a box in the short-term.
WHERE ARE WE NOW? Earlier this year, the Housing Committee warned that while most social housing tenants have ‘warm, safe and decent places to live’, just under 430,000 properties don’t meet the Decent Homes Standard. Poor insulation, damp and mould are common problems, and little progress has been made on improving conditions
since the pandemic. T e new Standard doesn’t come into force until 2035, but social and private landlords must meet the minimum energy effi ciency standard (EPC Band C or equivalent) by 2030. It’s a tight deadline, and while the phased compliance deadline to 2039 provides some breathing room, the scale of the challenge is enormous. As many as one in four social homes (around 1.1 million properties) will need work, and the costs will run into billions of pounds.
AVOIDING THE STICKING PLASTER APPROACH Compliance, budgetary constraints, and political short-termism can make for a toxic mix – at odds with the long-term thinking needed to deliver homes that are sustainable in every sense of the word. While there are low-cost initiatives that can reduce carbon emissions, like
better insulation, bigger projects such as installing heat pumps, solar panels, and windows and doors, are generally more expensive. So, it’s not surprising that providers oſt en want to minimise these as much as possible. T e problem is that
Housing Management & Maintenance Summer 2026
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