Colin Hines and I have been calling for a retrofit green insulation and generation programme for the 28 million houses in the UK for longer than I wish to recall. It has always been a key component in what we have seen to be the Green New Deal.
Our argument has always been a perfectly straightforward one. It is that 35% of emissions come from households, so we need to eliminate them. This would, we argue, create new jobs in every constituency of the UK when literally nothing else can do so, and those jobs and the hope that comes with them are desperately needed. And, we have suggested, the funding for this is readily available, not just from quantitative easing, but from the savings glut that QE has already created in the UK.
It was good, therefore, to note that a whole host of organisations in the UK building and housing sector have come out in support of this idea in a new report:
As this report says:
And it adds:
It goes on to say:
We could not agree more. Indeed, it's good to have so many of the claims that we have made confirmed.
Now all we need is delivery. And that comes down to answering the question ‘how are you going to pay for it?' Colin and I remain the only people with a comprehensive plan to do that.
Now is literally the time to put the UK's savings to work. Will the government rise to the challenge? It needs to do so.
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Good report, much to like. One element seems to be missing – how to help households to initiate an energy renovation. Yes I can see that there is an “Informing and educating” prog – aimed at households – which is good. But I have a sense that the householders are expected to be their own “project managers”. (Happy to be proved wrong).
In France a “one-stop-shop” programme has been implemented. Basically everything is organised for a householder: what work is needed, what result will this lead to, finance, builders, the lot. There is one point of contact for householders and thus a run-around (action, builders, finance) is elminated. They kicked this off in the super region Nord-Pas-de-Calais and it is now expanded to other locations. Brits need something similar. But that would require local authority support (and thus funding). I doubt if the current crew of crimi-killer-clowns will do that.
Local hubs to supply that management service are essential, I think
And the government has to be in that arena
Actually, mainly local government
I quite agree, BUT…………..
It seems to me that there are genuine issues we need to address about the ‘Fitness for purpose’ of much of the UK’s construction industry – Grenfell, sadly being the most obvious example also of course all the missing fire breaks discovered in ‘Post Grenfell’ Surveys, there was also the appalling bodge which damaged many homes in Preston,
https://passivehouseplus.ie/news/health/disastrous-preston-retrofit-scheme-remains-unresolved
To say nothing of the issues that arise with ‘New Build’ homes.
The Government considered but decided not to adopt a licensing scheme for builders – although buildres have to be licensed in both the USA & Australia
I have professional experience of contractors in the minng industry and personal, building an extension for my 10,000 books and incentives and / or approved contractors, are a waste of time and money. The only thing that works are independed inspectors. There is a system called “Construction Quality Assurance” which sets out what is requied.
Ireland have a grant system where approved contractors undertake the work and then if it passes inspection you can get a fixed grant. The problems are a shortage of approved contractos who double the cost and you are responsable for ensuring the work is done properly. Up front payment limits to rich people as generally costs are about €75,000.