Low carbon domestic refurbishment in the UK social housing sector : a survey of attitudes, readiness and adoption

The buildings sector has been identified as being capable of delivering sizable efficiency savings from not only its current practices regarding new build but also in retrofitting the existing built stock. Indeed, there are more than 27 million homes in the UK, each contributing an average 5.1 tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum.The social housing sector represents 18% of the total UK housing stock, approximately 4.7 million homes and has an existing supply chain already active in maintaining and refurbishing homes in a way that is acceptable to the occupant; thus presenting an ideal starting point to build on the embryonic UK sustainable retrofit market.To date, pilot projects have identified technical solutions, but the problem of how to deliver the required number of retrofitted properties at scale remains. This thesis investigates the sectors attitudes, readiness and adoption with regards to sustainable retrofit as well as how to address the need to deliver at scale in a way that is affordable, acceptable and assured in terms of performance. There is an evident willingness amongst Registered Providers to take action and lead the housing sector as a whole but also some fundamental challenges, including restricted financial resources, budgetary constraints, split incentives, and under-developed retrofit supply chains. Addressing all of these facets is not insurmountable provided the sector fully embraces the challenge and begins to address the delivery process as a whole. The policy, process, people and technology issues interlink and, as such, require a coordinated response. Registered Providers must therefore realise a shared internal understanding of what the intended outcomes from sustainable retrofit are, identify how they relate to the overall business plan and then resource the development of new protocols and processes that help to guide the supply chain and enable high quality retrofit to be delivered at scale