Warm homes plan – a step in the right direction?

As someone who’s seen my fair share of piecemeal energy efficiency schemes come and go, I’ve long hoped for a government that would drastically increase ambition on retrofit delivery. When Labour announced it would launch a new Warm Homes Plan with a doubling of investment and a local authority-led, street by street approach, it was a relief.   

The recent launch of the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (WH: SHF) and the parallel local authority grant scheme are clearly welcome.  The allowance under the scheme for devolved WH: SHF funding for combined authorities is a positive step and hopefully a sign of the government’s intentions for a more locally led approach. But these incremental changes to funding policy won’t accelerate a move towards the planning of large-scale delivery at pace. Local authorities need the mandate and funding to coordinate a street-by-street approach, supported by a strong national plan and delivery agency. Without this, it’s difficult to see how the 27 million retrofits needed by 2050 will be achieved.   

There could be significant benefits to housing providers from a more coordinated approach. Larger scale projects could attract more government grants and help to prioritise electricity grid investment to facilitate the decarbonisation of heat. We also know that a cross-tenure approach is more efficient and equitable. There could also be significant benefits for scheme delivery and cost efficiency through economies of scale and sharing of marketing, retrofit design, and procurement functions.   

We have three key suggestions for government that could help to support this approach. Firstly, the new Warm Homes Plan must feature a new warm homes agency. It should have responsibility for coordinating retrofit nationally, distributing funding, and supporting landlords and the supply chain to increase capacity and delivery. A national agency could also help develop the workforce needed to deliver net zero housing while addressing other significant barriers to retrofit delivery like marketing, retrofit planning policy, and new funding models.  

Secondly, local authorities should be mandated and funded to coordinate retrofit delivery in local areas. Local area energy plans should be developed that identify the strategic priorities for cross-tenure retrofit investment in an area as well as new energy infrastructure such as improved grid capacity, microgrids, and heat networks.   

Lastly, government funding programmes should be designed to prioritise area-based, street by street, multi-tenure delivery. Funding could be consolidated into a single grant whereby bids can either be submitted by local authorities, housing associations, or both with Local Energy Plans being used to help identify need. Autonomy should then be given to local housing stakeholders to, within financial limits set by government, use grants to fund measures consistent with local housing archetypes and existing asset management plans.  

Clearly, this approach would mark a significant change in the way that retrofit is planned and delivered and it will take time to develop the partnerships, the working relationships, and the delivery models needed. But to prepare for the approach outlined in the Labour manifesto, this change needs to start now.  

At VIVID we’re talking to our local authority partners where we have significant retrofit plans in the next five years to start coordinating planning and delivery. We’re reviewing the data that housing stakeholders hold to understand local strategic priorities. We’re also formalising our long-term ambition to collaborate on energy efficiency with commitment from the local authorities and VIVID at the executive level.  

We’ve talked for many years in the housing sector about how the UK’s housing stock is the oldest and coldest in Europe. Let’s hope that the launch of the Warm Homes Plan provides the foundations that we badly need to support the retrofitting of 3000 homes every day for the next 26 years. It could be a once in a generation chance to transform homes to benefit our customers, communities, and the planet.