2026: A pivotal year for social housing retrofit

Even with the Energy Company Obligation scheme ending, retail energy companies will still play a significant role in improving the UK’s 30 million homes.

Meanwhile, the retrofit and construction sector remains closer to shore, facing long-standing challenges around time, cost and quality.

While there are many positive exceptions, the market has problems ranging from major contractors charging significant fees to an unregulated landscape with little quality control.

Stakeholders increasingly frame retrofit as a solution for biodiversity, social isolation, health, embodied carbon and placemaking. These are valid goals, but hard to quantify and reliant on long-term data. 

The risk? In 2026, the energy boat sails on while construction lingers at the water’s edge. If we board only the energy vessel, we’ll electrify homes at scale and decarbonise as the grid shifts, but without addressing fabric, ventilation and quality, households may face higher bills and poor comfort.

If we stay rooted on the construction shore, meanwhile, we’ll fail to scale at all. Decades of attempts prove that remaining on the shore cannot deliver scale. 

What needs to change?

To succeed, we must bring the essentials from retrofit onto the energy-led journey, enough to achieve meaningful outcomes without overloading the boat.

These essentials are: quality standards that result in safe, reliable installations that perform as intended; an affordability focus where retrofit remains accessible to households; homes that prevent damp, improve ventilation and support well-being; and the appropriate insulation and airtightness to complement electrification.

These are non-negotiables. We may not consistently deliver every ambition, such as embodied carbon or community-owned delivery, but defining retrofit as creating homes that are decarbonised, affordable and healthy is far better than being left behind. 

In 2026, we need to stop debating and start delivering. This is the year to move beyond definitions and start delivering at scale. With innovative technology, data-driven decisions and collaboration across sectors, we can create homes that work for people and the planet.

Andy Sutton, co-founder and chief innovation officer, Sero