‘Retrofit’ refers to the strategic improvement of existing buildings to meet modern energy efficiency standards. There are many different ways to retrofit a property, and many complexities which arise when retrofitting a tenement building with multiple owners. To demystify the topic, Under One Roof CEO Mike Heffron joined Josiah Lockhart, Chief Executive of Changeworks, and Chris Carus, co-founder of Loco Homes Retrofit CIC, on the Scottish Housing News Podcast.
Together, they discussed the barriers to retrofit faced by homeowners, including the difficulty of making decisions together with neighbours, preserving the appearance of historical tenement buildings, working with factors and sharing costs.
The conversation also examined solutions to these barriers, such as mandatory owners’ associations to improve the decision-making process, and private finance projects to ease the financial burden.
However, these solutions require intervention at the Scottish Government level, as new funding models and regulatory frameworks will need to be put in place to help homeowners. Homeowners require support to retrofit their tenements, and a combination of technical innovation and public leadership is needed to help the decarbonisation movement along. Decarbonising Scotland’s domestic heating systems is an ambitious but worthwhile goal, which will need engagement from every part of our communities, including homeowners, tenants, factors and housing policy professionals.
In response to a question on the future of successful tenement retrofit, Mike Heffron said:
“It’s not all doom and gloom. We are looking into trying to fix some of these problems… there is interest, and there are people who are aware of these issues, right up to the Scottish Government, and people are looking into finding solutions. Some of these problems that we’re talking about now, potentially, are going to be fixable in the next five years with advances in technology. We just need some of the other issues to be addressed around the management and organisation of retrofit.”
