Retrofit can work. But we need to do it differently.
An 'Opinion piece' written by Rachel Edmonds and Sara Owens published initially on the FutureBuild website
Across the UK, too many people are still living in homes that are cold, damp, expensive to heat and harmful to health. The reasons are familiar to everyone working in housing and retrofit. We know about the scale of fuel poverty. We see the long-term impacts of poor-quality housing on physical and mental health. We hear every day about residents stuck in homes that are failing them.
We also know retrofit has the potential to change this. Done well, it can reduce bills, cut emissions, improve comfort and protect health. But right now, too much retrofit is being delivered in a way that misses the mark for buildings, for communities, and for the people living in them.
From our work with thousands of people across the sector, we see these problems coming up again and again. Good people working in a broken system. Well-intended schemes let down by bad design. Local delivery capacity stretched to its limits. Communities left out of decisions about their own homes.
What's holding us back?
Despite real progress in some areas, the same patterns of failure keep surfacing. Here are just some of the recurring problems we hear from across the UK:
- Top-down, one-size-fits-all policy – Too many schemes are designed centrally with little flexibility for local context. That leads to retrofit solutions that don't match local housing types, supply chains or community needs.
- A focus on numbers, not people – Delivery is often measured by install counts, not outcomes. This disconnects retrofit from what really matters — how it affects the people living in the homes.
- No requirement for measured performance – Most schemes don't track actual results. Without energy data, indoor air quality or user feedback, there's no way to learn or improve.
- Cost-cutting and race to the bottom – Design, coordination and ventilation are often underfunded or left out entirely. Lowest-cost procurement drives poor quality and poor outcomes.
- Poor accountability and unclear redress – When things go wrong, residents are left without clear answers or support. There's little accountability built into many programmes.
- Traditional buildings overlooked – Older homes often need different approaches. Too often, traditional materials and methods are ignored in retrofit plans, leading to damage or underperformance.
- Lack of skills and delivery capacity – We need more trained professionals across the supply chain. Without them, good retrofit cannot happen at scale.
- Residents excluded from decisions – Retrofit is often done to people, not with them. That leads to mistrust, misunderstanding and missed opportunities.
How the National Retrofit Hub is responding
At the National Retrofit Hub, we're working with organisations across the UK to help change this. We're not doing it alone, everything we create is shaped by our network of local authorities, designers, contractors, educators, community leaders and supply chain partners.
We're developing tools, guidance and shared learning that supports practical, coordinated, people-focused retrofit. Here are five key areas we're prioritising right now, and the resources available to support them.
1. Better performance monitoring and reporting
Retrofit needs to be evidenced. We're supporting the sector to track outcomes that matter. Explore our Measuring Outcomes Impact Evaluation Guide and the Innovator Profiles series to see how others are already embedding performance feedback in their work.
2. Supporting skills development and local supply chains
Without a skilled workforce, we won't scale delivery. Our Policy Recommendations for a Retrofit Workforce Strategy set out the actions needed from policy-makers and the industry to build capacity, support local delivery and raise standards across the supply chain.
3. Designing for local typologies
The UK's housing is incredibly diverse. Our Archetypes Design Guide and Library supports retrofit that's tailored to local building types, helping practitioners avoid inappropriate or ineffective solutions.
4. Understanding community and occupant needs
Retrofit is most successful when it's rooted in place. We're developing resources and case studies through our place-based project to help communities, intermediaries, local and combined authorities and delivery bodies design retrofit strategies that reflect the real homes, communities and capabilities in their area.
5. Enabling community-led co-design
People need to be involved in decisions about their homes. Through Retrofit Connect, we're sharing tools and stories from projects that are empowering communities to lead and co-design retrofit from the ground up.
Get involved
We know retrofit can work. But we also know it will only succeed if we stop repeating the same mistakes. That means better collaboration, better learning and more joined-up delivery.
That's why we've launched the Retrofit Community of Industry — a space for people across the sector to connect, share insight and shape a better future for retrofit.
If you're delivering, supporting or influencing retrofit, we want to work with you.