Delivering the Retrofit Revolution in the UK’s Built Environment

Welcome to Net Zero News, your daily briefing on the UK’s transition to a low‑carbon future.

Scotland continues making strides in public sector building retrofit, as Union Technical, based in Glasgow, has been selected as an approved supplier in the Scottish Procurement Alliance’s £660 million Retrofit and Decarbonisation Framework. The framework enables over a hundred local authorities, social landlords and public sector bodies to access energy efficiency and retrofit services. Union Technical has secured Lots 2 and 5, strengthening its position at the forefront of Scotland’s decarbonisation efforts in the built environment.

In England, in an England‑wide initiative, Procast Group headquartered in Hamilton has landed a major contract under the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s Net Zero Housing Retrofit Framework valued at £980 million. Procast will provide a full turnkey retrofit solution over four years starting August 2025. The framework spans all nine English regions but is specifically geared to accelerate Greater Manchester’s Net Zero target of 2038 12 years ahead of the UK-wide goal.

Meanwhile, Procast is also delivering retrofit work in Cumbria, having launched the second wave of a £12.5 million project funded by the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund in partnership with Home Group and Cumberland Council. The initiative seeks to lift tenants out of fuel poverty and bring homes up to PAS2035 standards through comprehensive upgrades external wall insulation, triple‑glazed windows, air‑source heat pumps, ventilation systems, photovoltaic solar panels, among others—with 102 properties scheduled for completion by March 2025.

Elsewhere, in Renfrewshire, Procast is currently delivering a tenement retrofit in Paisley. The project, supported by £4.8 million funding from the Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme and £500,000 from Renfrewshire Council’s Private Sector Housing Grant, encompasses both internal and external works new kitchens and bathrooms, stone repairs, re‑roofing, landscaping and more. It is slated to take two years to complete.

Scaling up procurement options, Procast also secured a place on the Communities & Housing Investment Consortium’s (CHIC) UK‑wide Multi‑Element Framework worth £450 million. Over four years (2025–2029), the framework will allow delivery of works across residential properties, including insulation, new construction, electrical upgrades, plumbing, roofing and environmental improvements.

Industry is also tackling skills shortages in retrofit delivery. The Retrofit Academy has launched a free introductory course Retrofit 101 that has already enrolled thousands of learners and professionals. The course is aimed at helping individuals and organisations begin their retrofit journey and progress toward accredited qualifications, supporting efforts to build the workforce needed for large‑scale, high‑quality retrofit across the UK.

On a broader policy level, the Future Homes Hub continues its initiatives to embed sustainability in new housing. Its landmark Whole Life Carbon Benchmarking Study for 2025 offers detailed, empirically grounded data on embodied carbon performance across 48 assessments. This helps homebuilders better understand and reduce a building’s full carbon impact. Additionally, the Hub has expanded the Homes for Nature initiative to include apartments, encouraging biodiversity measures such as nest bricks, hedgehog highways, pollinator landscaping and SuDS across high-rise residential developments a step that expands the natural environment into the high‑density build sector.

What this means:
The UK built environment sector is clearly accelerating its retrofit delivery capabilities spanning public sector frameworks, large-scale housing programmes, and a growing workforce skilled for retrofit projects. Scotland and England alike are driving substantial investment to upgrade building performance, energy systems and climate resilience from national frameworks down to local tenements.

At the same time, attention to holistic sustainability in new construction is increasing. Empirical data on whole‑life carbon and biodiversity‑centric guidance for apartments signal that net zero construction is evolving beyond energy alone, aiming to integrate nature and carbon transparency from the outset.

Collectively, these developments highlight an important shift: retrofit and new build are both advancing with better strategy, planning and expertise. That strengthens the chances of meeting ambitious net‑zero targets—transforming assets, protecting residents, and nurturing the environment.

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