Mayor looks for a London ‘retrofit revolution’

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has declared a ‘retrofit revolution’ in London, announcing a new package of measures that will make buildings more energy efficient and tackle the climate emergency.

A new Innovation Partnership will make it easier for social landlords and UK building firms to work together to upgrade ageing homes in the capital. The scheme will link up housing providers and builders through all stages of home retrofitting, from planning through to large-scale delivery. The partnership has the potential value of £10bn in retrofit works, which would create around 150,000 jobs over the decade. The Innovation Partnership is open to social housing providers across the UK, with at least £5bn estimated that could be spent in London.

The Mayor has also been backed by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) for London to lead the country by creating a £3.5m national retrofit centre of excellence to help assist social housing providers gain access to funding for major retrofit projects.

The centre will build on the Mayor’s successful Retrofit Accelerator – Homes which aims to transform the way London retrofits its ageing and energy-inefficient housing to create warm, affordable and ultra-low carbon homes. It will also directly help social housing providers develop plans to improve their chances of being successful through the next round of the £160m Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.

London’s homes and workplaces are responsible for 78 per cent of the capital’s carbon emissions and virtually all will need some level of retrofitting over this decade. The capital’s social housing urgently needs upgrading to be as energy efficient as possible with improvements including better insulation, low-carbon heat and clean power sources, such as solar energy, to deliver the Mayor’s climate targets and tackle growing fuel poverty. London has the third highest level of fuel poverty in the country, with Barking and Dagenham having the highest of any local authority in England.

Sadiq Khan, said:“A strong economic recovery from COVID-19 and a green recovery are not mutually exclusive. This transformative approach to retrofit will directly help those living in ageing, energy-inefficient homes, and could play a vital role cutting energy bills and tackling fuel poverty. It will also support Londoners with the skills they need for jobs in the green economy, rebuilding our city post-COVID so that it’s cleaner, greener and fairer.”