18 BUILDING
INSIGHTS LIVE
Solutions for Low Energy Domestic Retrofi t at Scale
A
round table we staged in late February 2026, as the Government launched its £15bn Warm Homes Plan, brought architects, sustainability consultants, retrofi t experts, industry bodies and suppliers together to confront the challenges – and propose solutions – for achieving home retrofi t at an unprecedented scale. With £5bn of retrofi t funding up for grabs, the event held at the Institute of Directors was a crucial opportunity to share practical insights and address obstacles, as occupier affordability and fuel poverty becomes a greater UK challenge by the day. The discussion was sponsored by NIBE Energy Systems and IDSystems, who both posed practical retrofi t-at-scale questions as well as solutions to the group. Questions included how low carbon heating solutions fi tted into the context of holistic retrofi ts alongside fabric improvements, and the changes in window and glass design spec that would be needed. The group also reviewed recommendations made by our 2024 round table (our fi rst looking in-depth at the retrofi t challenge). The delegates discussed whether the new Warm Homes Plan would
fi ll a yawning gap left by the sudden cancellation of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) scheme in late 2025, and highlighted the potential shortcomings of the Plan, which the Government would do well to take account of. Delegates agreed there was a need to maintain a focus on fabric improvements alongside renewables, but some believed it was important to not “make the perfect the enemy of the good,” in pursuing retrofi t at scale, given the urgent need to achieve large numbers of completed schemes quickly. The panel made recommendations for supporting retrofi t, for both industry and government, from intervening to close the ‘spark gap’ between electricity and gas prices, to introducing ‘building passports’ which would help a building’s resale value to be increased, based on the transparency of its retrofi t measures. And there was an overarching focus on the need to increase the credibility and quality of retrofi ts, in the wake of controversies around ECO projects, and thereby build trust among end users. This was an open and candid discussion about the fundamental shifts required in not only the construction industry but the wider property sector in order to deliver the regulatory ‘sticks’ as well as the incentivising ‘carrots’ that are going to be needed to achieve good quality retrofi ts at an unprecedented scale. The recommendations made by delegates are featured at the end of this report.
Round table chair, James Parker
WARM SUPPORT FOR RETROFIT AT SCALE
Our expert group, including event sponsors NIBE, looked in-depth at the existing and needed ‘sticks’ and ‘carrots’ for pursuing low energy retrofi ts across the housing sector
The debate: challenges Anna Scothern, chief executive of the National Home Improvement Council (NHIC), was sadly unable to attend in person, but contributed a comprehensive set of viewpoints around retrofi t challenges to the session. She said the principal constraint on achieving domestic retrofi t at scale “is not installer willingness or technological capability – it is structural instability in the policy and delivery environment.”
Scothern said that the market remains challenged by short funding cycles and “stop-start programmes,” but responsibility for delivering most of the retrofi ts required would rest on SMEs. At the same time, they were facing “rapid regulatory shifts without transition periods, fragmented standards, and high administrative and compliance burdens, set against “thin margins and limited working capital.” She said that major changes needed to deliver scale were: “multi-year funding certainty, predictable regulatory pathways, simplifi ed compliance interfaces, and payment structures that do not penalise small fi rms.”
Sustainability consultant Naomi Sadler of SEES highlighted a range
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