黑洞社区

Ministers lept to the defence of the government鈥檚 retrofit strategy at the Conservative Party conference yesterday, after repeated criticism from industry figures who say current plans do not go far enough. 

Asked why the government was still allowing houses to be built that will need retrofitting in the near future, Paul Scully, minister of state in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, said the government was 鈥渘ot trying to get to net zero tomorrow. We鈥檙e trying to get there by 2050.鈥�

Speaking at the same ConservativeHome event on retrofit, Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders, said that building such substandard homes was 鈥渁 nonsense鈥�.

He added: 鈥淲e need a green revolution, [and retrofitting] 29 million homes should be treated as a major infrastructure project,鈥� before adding: 鈥淩etrofit would reduce emissions, improve lives and create much-needed jobs.鈥�

Sandi Rhys Jones, vice-president of the Chartered Institute of 黑洞社区, agreed that the lack of progress was 鈥渂reathtaking鈥�, urging the government to help create a stable market and upskill the workforce.

鈥淲e need consistency. If this is going to work, this needs consistency,鈥� she said, pointing to the Irish 鈥渙ne-stop shop鈥� model, where citizens can get advice on retrofit and get a list of accredited suppliers.

Industry figures have long expressed frustration at the government鈥檚 perceived lack of urgency in facing the retrofit challenge, with many expressing disappointment at the relatively small measures included in the chancellor鈥檚 mini-budget last month.

>> Industry 鈥榙isappointed鈥� by Kwarteng鈥檚 lack of action on retrofit

Business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg defended the government鈥檚 record on retrofit at a CapX/Centre for Policy Studies event, pointing to the 拢1bn recently announced by chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng for retrofit.

Rees-Mogg said he wanted 鈥渋ntelligent net zero鈥� and said social housing was a sensible place to start as housing associations were able to roll out a programme more efficiently.

He added that for people who live in listed buildings it was 鈥渁lmost impossible to retrofit鈥� under current rules.

At a ConservativeHome and Energy UK鈥檚 event on net zero, Bim Afolami, the prime minister鈥檚 former parliamentary private secretary, urged members of his own party to take net zero seriously.

鈥淭hese people who think this green stuff is all mumbo jumbo [need to understand] it鈥檚 not even primarily an environmental argument but about security of energy supply,鈥� he said, adding that voters were open to messaging on retrofit because 鈥測our bill will be lower, your house will be warmer, your life is going to be better鈥�.