Five steps towards unlocking retrofit: thoughts from the APPG

 

Siân Rearden reports on the latest APPG session held on 31st January, at which Marion Baeli (Partner at PDP London) was a panel member.

Retrofitting the UK’s building stock presents a colossal challenge, and with time fast-disappearing to meet our zero carbon emissions goals, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for London’s Planning and Built Environment met recently to discuss what needs to be done.

With most of our buildings likely to still be in use by 2050, despite being responsible for around 20% of the country’s carbon emissions, retrofitting will be crucial and should therefore be high on the political agenda.

Here are five key points which were raised during the discussions:

1. Remove the disparity with new build by cutting VAT for retrofit projects

This is by no means a new train of thought, but there is a rather perverse situation where 20% VAT is applied to retrofit projects whereas – often – a new build development is zero-rated. Brian Berry from the Federation of Master Builders explained that it’s often ‘cheaper to knock something down and rebuild it, to avoid the VAT…cost comes into it too much, so we need to change the formula.’

2. The industry default should be one of retrofit and refurbishment, not demolition

According to the Architects’ Journal’s RetroFirst campaign, 50,000 buildings are demolished every year in the UK and of the 200,000 tonnes of waste we produce each year as a nation, nearly two-thirds is construction waste. Will Hurst, Managing Editor of the Architects’ Journal, believes we ‘have a default approach in favour of a disposable built environment’.

This, of course, is not helped by the aforementioned VAT issue. He went on to explain that ‘the system is sadly pushing for demolition without seriously looking at refurbishment and reuse’ as it is often ‘a less divisive form of development.’ That’s not to say that no building can ever be demolished – some are obviously beyond repair – but in those cases we need to do our best to reuse the materials, where practicable, and build something environmentally exemplary in its place.

Retrofitted blocks at 22 Park Crescent

3. Understand – and regulate – embodied carbon

Many references were made to the current Part Z campaign, an amendment to the Building Regulations, which would ensure that embodied carbon is assessed and limited. Data from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors suggests that more than a third of the whole-life embodied carbon of a typical new-build office building will be emitted before it is even occupied.

By gathering CO2e data and assessing materials holistically, ‘it helps you make truly informed choices’ said Marion Baeli, Partner at PDP London. ‘There is a real lack of data though, in particular for MEP equipment, so we don't usually know the embodied carbon of a heat pump for example – the manufacturers also need to get on board so that we can make good decisions about specification.’

‘…until the Government take whole life carbon assessments seriously, we continue to not focus on this topic’ said Duncan Baker MP. ‘It's also about language and how we talk about the issue – if we talk about embodied carbon, people don't understand that, so there is a real education process which needs to happen.’

Carbon literacy is a real challenge, but there are a plethora of resources and guidance documents being produced to help bridge the knowledge gap.

(Additional reading: Click to read more about our involvement with the LETI guide on embodied and whole life carbon and their climate emergency retrofit guide as well as our thoughts on why we can’t ignore embodied carbon in buildings any longer).

4. Training (and re-training)

Pointing out that the industry still hasn’t recovered the number of skilled people lost as a result of the 2008 financial crisis, Marion Baeli talked about the importance of training, both for those who are new to the industry and for those already working in it.

‘We need more people to help with the retrofit mission’ she says. ‘Programmes are due to be put in place, but let's not forget we need to retrain those who are already trained...all the architects in my industry need to learn a new way of designing buildings and retrofitting buildings. We need to be cognisant that it's not only about training new people but upskilling everyone working in architecture, design and construction.’

Retrofitting strategy applied at Princedale Road

5. Introduce a long-term strategy

Governments have traditionally put in short term policies to help transform housing stock but then taken them away. This approach has often left homeowners, and/or construction professionals out of pocket as they commit to upskilling, only to find the programmes they have enrolled on, have been removed.

‘We are calling for a national retrofit strategy’ said Brian Berry. ‘Builders are happy to do it but there needs to be consumer demand, there needs to be financial support and incentives for people. The Government need to get on board.’

Sarah Fletcher from the GLA explained ‘if you want to connect into the gas network it's free but to disconnect you have to pay! At the micro level of the regulations there isn't an alignment. There is no regulatory framework which is pushing on energy standards, VAT issues, planning etc…’

Short term policies will only ever be a sticking plaster, without a real long-term vision and strategy, we won’t meet our targets.


So, in summary, at a time when we have declared a climate emergency, our tax policy and regulations need to stop making wasteful demolition and rebuild cheap. Instead, our approach needs to focus on the sustainable reuse of our existing building stock (where practicable) by informed and appropriately trained professionals, supported by an industry which always considers retrofit first.

The webinar session was hosted by the NLA and London Society on Monday 31st January 2022 and was chaired by Rupa Huq MP. The APPG meets three times a year to debate the key issues facing the future shape of London.

The speakers were:

 
SustainabilitySian ReardenTopical Opinion Pieces