Our homes are responsible for a quarter of the UK’s carbon footprint, and there is now cross-party political support for urgent action to make them much more sustainable.

Improving the energy efficiency of our existing housing stock is one of the most cost-effective ways to cut emissions. Four in five homes in the UK are privately owned, but so far no-one has succeeded in delivering large-scale projects to retrofit these efficiently or effectively.

Refit West  is a pioneering scheme to help private homeowners reduce the energy and resource consumption of their homes.  Forum for the Future aims to develop a practical model to retrofit whole houses that can be rolled out nationwide. 

We are working on pilot projects with a small number of pioneers in Bristol and the West of England as part of our work to make it the most sustainable city-region in the UK. These homeowners live in different types of housing and are all committed to increasing the energy efficiency of their properties.  And we are using this experience to help the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Energy Saving Trust develop a large-scale energy efficiency scheme for private homeowners.

This work is essential if we are to meet national carbon reduction targets. Latest figures show our homes generate 27% (146 Mt) of the UK’s total carbon emissions (533 Mt).  But residential carbon emissions have only fallen by 6% since 1990. 

Putting people first

Our approach begins and ends with the homeowner: providing information on the most appropriate and cost-effective options for their property; designing solutions to meet their needs; ensuring suppliers give them quality and value for their money; and making available capital finance at terms that benefit them as owners.

It’s all about empowering and supporting individuals as they make decisions and commission works to their homes.  We believe a flexible and people-centred approach, delivering a positive experience for early adopters, is the only way to radically transform our property market and housing stock.

To do this at scale will require a broad view which takes account of three key elements: providing appropriate financial incentives to refit houses; creating demand from homeowners; and ensuring there is a workforce with the skills to carry it out. 

Refit West aims to:

• support the delivery of energy and resource efficiency works to 1000 homes; 
•  create a replicable model for delivery and a financial mechanism that can support the large-scale refurbishment of the UK’s existing housing stock;
• increase the demand for energy efficiency works by homeowners within the West of England;
• support the development of supply chains capable of providing high quality goods and services, e.g. technologies and skills to reduce the energy and resource demand from the UK’s existing housing stock;
• provide learning to help other government initiatives in this area to radically scale up their activities. 

Refit West is supported by a very strong coalition of partners, dedicated to overcoming the barriers and making the scheme a success.

For further information please contact Ben Ross: b.ross@forumforthefuture.org