Net zero is a huge challenge – and a massive opportunity

The launch of the government’s new heat and buildings strategy is a core plank in its net zero strategy. The built environment generates nearly 40% of carbon emissions and the vast majority of that comes from heating and operating our current stock.

>> Also read: Homeowners to be given £5,000 grants for heat pumps

>> Also read: Eight key takeaways from the heat and buildings strategy  

While the carbon generated by a single home is dwarfed by that created by a new road or an airport, collectively our homes generate a huge carbon shadow. Fixing an issue of this scale cannot rely on our current ways of working – it is a challenge on a totally different scale that will require an evolution of how our industry works.

Housing is collectively the largest privately-held asset base in the country so,  while we might think that engaging stakeholders in infrastructure to embrace net zero is complex, wait until we encounter the challenges of retrofitting someone’s home and in turn impacting the value of that.

You just need to look at the planning committees to see how voraciously people will challenge anything with even a perceived impact on the value of their home!

The government’s new strategy is a bold step in the right direction

The government’s latest policy move in this area follows the launch last year of the Construction Leadership Council’s national retrofit strategy; a document which covers both insulation improvements and how we can transform the way that we heat the nation’s homes.

That strategy lays bear the true scale of the challenge facing us. It is a truly mammoth task – one that will require us to retrofit 27 million homes by 2040.

The government’s strategy is a bold step in the right direction – but perhaps the route to net zero is less government-led and more market-led than one might have expected.

Following a number of false starts – including the much-derided green homes grant – it appears that some lessons have been learnt. It will be interesting to see how the £5,000 grants for heat pumps will play out in market terms, and if the anticipated savings through scale will materialise.

The industry will also take confidence from new hydrogen and district heating system trials with a clear 2026 date set for a policy decision.

Although less ambitious than it might have been in terms of government funding, the reality is that it does not change the overall maths

It is clear that this administration has, perhaps inevitably, decided to take a market-led approach to delivering the energy-efficient homes that we need. This is underpinned by potential future legislation to gradually upgrade our stock rather than a mass subsidy approach to drive adoption. But what does this approach mean for our sector? 

Although less ambitious than it might have been in terms of government funding, the reality is that it does not change the overall maths: to deliver the government’s current net zero targets will require a transformational change in how our sector operates, how many people we employ and the skills we want to recruit and train for.

The reality is that firms prepared to take the risk in investing in the technology, process and infrastructure to deliver retrofit at scale will almost certainly benefit, as legislation in this area ramps up – and the long-term potential for growth is enormous. Retrofit will be easily one of the largest industrial efforts that this country has attempted in peacetime,  even if yesterday’s announcement set us on a slower course than we might have hoped.

For many people, that was clear already – and companies across the sector are investing in these areas. For the industry more widely, we need to continue to develop this approach, working in partnership with the government and holding open dialogue about how the whole strategy – and how each part of our industry, from residential housebuilding to commercial developers and housing associations – can engage effectively with the retrofit agenda.

We will need a veritable army of people to achieve the targets, spread right across the country

As part of our Construct Zero programme, we continue to push for collaborative working between government and business to find construction solutions for how we drive this change at scale and at pace. We know that we will need a veritable army of people to achieve the targets, spread right across the country. The question is how and where we find them, encourage them to join our industry – and then train them.

So perhaps you were disappointed about the scale of yesterday’s announcement? Or maybe relieved that the pace of industry change is slower than expected? Whatever the answer, my challenge to every construction business a simple one.

Given that we know the direction of travel – and how ambitious we must be to get there – we must all ask ourselves: what are we doing now to take advantage of the retrofit opportunity?

Hannah Vickers is chief of staff at Mace and the workstream lead for the CLC’s ConstructZero programme