The Retrofit Challenge, 24th March 2022, St Paul's, London
When it comes to decarbonising, we know the challenge we face is huge. We understand that the new homes we build must be built carbon free, and we are going to have to tackle the challenge of what we do with the existing building stock that is operational today and will still be in place in 2050, the deadline for the UK to reach a state of net zero emissions.
We must retrofit this existing building stock. What do we mean by that?
Retrofitting means that we need to fit new systems that are designed for high energy efficiency and low energy consumption into buildings that were built without them. And, with the scale of the challenge ahead, this should be as the UK Green Building Council say - a key priority to transform UK housing so that it is efficient, warm, and cheaper to heat, whilst phasing out fossil fuel heating.
But, with estimates of up to 29 million homes requiring some form of retrofitting the challenge is laid out clearly. We can see we need action, and we need a sense of urgency. We are close to a situation of having to retrofit 1 million homes per year, a big, big challenge which will also come with a hefty price tag.
The scale of this challenge means we can not work in isolation. Undoubtedly, we are better off collaborating, working, and learning together on how to do this efficiently and in a cost-effective manner.
A virtual event last year (and where Unlock Net Zero was launched), The 2022 Inside Housing and Social Housing Retrofit Challenge Summit is now a physical live event taking place this year at St Paul’s in London. One year on, as Unlock Net Zero, we are proud to be a sponsor of the summit and our editorial director Andy Cameron-Smith will be chairing several sessions during the day.
The aim of the summit is to equip attendees with knowledge and provide the opportunity to network to help them tackle the challenge of retrofit from a number of perspectives:
- Planning
- Procurement
- Funding
- Delivery at scale
whilst linking the activity to the long-term health, safety and security of tenants and residents.
Senior executives from across the housing sector will be joined by officials from central and devolved governments to discuss topics such as:
- Retrofit incentives
- Collaborative approaches to retrofit
- Use of data in retrofit assessments
- Procurement frameworks
- Resident engagement
- Value for money strategies
- Addressing the skills gap
- Measuring the impact on communities, economies and the environment
Andy will host the plenary sessions including keynote speakers – Lord Callanan, the minister for business, energy and corporate responsibility at BEIS, Sian Berry, former Green Party co-leader and London Assembly Member and Lord Deben, the chair of the Climate Change Committee.
He will also moderate question and answer sessions at the “driving a retrofit revolution”, “collaborating to achieve more at scale” and “achieving clean heat while avoiding fuel poverty” sessions.
You can join Andy and summit delegates by registering for the event via this link
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