Insights from CIH and CIOB’s expert roundtable on net zero

To what extent is the housing sector meeting its net-zero ambitions? And what help might it need going forward? These two queries were at the heart of a roundtable recently hosted by CIH and CIOB.

Earlier this summer, CIH co-hosted a roundtable with the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) to discuss the challenges and successes of net zero. For CIOB, it was a chance to gain a better understanding of its clients’ built assets and estate strategy for net zero; for CIH, it was an opportunity to hear in detail about the ways in which housing providers are delivering on net zero, as well as their concerns going forward.  

The discussion was anchored by three main questions: 

• What are the core challenges to reaching net zero?
• What approaches and strategies have worked, and what hasn't?
• What more construction teams can do to help the sector reach its net-zero ambitions? 

More than a dozen experts and leaders from across the housing sector attended the roundtable. Here's what they said*. 

Defining net zero 

Everyone at the roundtable was there to talk about net zero, but what actually is it? One sector expert pointed out that, while we all have an idea of what we mean when we talk about net zero, there isn’t a universally agreed definition. 

“Do we have a common and accepted definition that everyone's working to for net zero?” they asked. “And do we have a common and accepted way of measuring achievement against that? I’m not sure.” 

Another panellist agreed, adding it is “really important” that everyone in the sector is working toward the same definition. They pointed to the UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard Project, which is seeking to bring together accepted net-zero requirements and definitions for all major building types, both for new buildings and existing buildings. 

Spreading the message 

While it’s crucial for landlords and the wider sector to be on the same page when it comes to net zero and sustainability, it’s no less important for the tenants they serve to be in on the conversation and kept informed. 

As one panellist put to the table: "A lot of residents are frightened, bewildered, anxious and feel quite disempowered by the energy challenge...and they know something needs to happen.” 

Simply, landlords need to ensure they work their tenants and keep them in the loop about their plans around things such as retrofitting and boiler replacements and the impact on their homes and their lives. “That partnership with residents is going to become more important,” the panellist said. 

While landlords need to take residents on their net-zero journey, doing so will require a committed effort from both parties. However, while tenant engagement might be challenging, one panellist said it could also be “our biggest advantage”. They gave the example of their organisation used the cost of living crisis to promote the cost-saving benefits of retrofit. 

“[We] put the message out around how it will save bills, how they increase quality of life and also at disposable income,” they said. “Residents were very, very happy to get it done and they were happy to work with us.” 

You can't be at odds with your contractor as well as trying to solve these kinds of challenges

Another panellist explained how their engagement team has involved tenants “every step of the way” of its retrofitting programme, and how doing so has helped them to make good progress to getting all homes to an EPC rating of C by 2030 (which aligns with the goal of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to get all fuel-poor homes in the sector to EPC C by this date).

“We realised that tenants don’t have to be a barrier and a challenge to retrofit...we can then start to win them over and transform those conversations into a conversation about energy efficiency," they said. 

Smashing the silos 

Working more closely with tenants is one thing, but organisations within the sector must also work together if they are to achieve their ultimate net-zero aims. But what does it mean to work in partnership? For many on the table, it was about sharing best practice and key learnings. 

"We need to capture the insight and learning that's already out there, and I think today's a good start on that,” one panellist said. 

Sharing outcomes from projects is one way to improve partnership-working within the sector, “but are we sharing our data with each other as well?” On this, one panellist explained that, through one of their partnerships, they are looking to introduce a shared system that provides information to all concerned parties regarding location, stock and what a particular package of work might look like.  

Another panellist cited the need for landlords to put effort into their relationships with contractors and third parties. “What's worked for us is having the right delivery partner to undertake the work,” they said. “The last 25 minutes of this discussion have proved just how many challenges there are around this agenda and, unless you've got delivery partners willing to work with you to solve the challenges together, it becomes really difficult.”

Summing up the need to work together, one panellist said: “We simply can't solve sustainability issues without a partnership approach. That's why it's got its own UN Sustainable Development Goal, right?” 

Building the workforce 

The issue of skills was another that the table was keen to broach. The sector has committed to building new, highly energy-efficient housing and decarbonising its existing stock, but only so much can be done if the workforce isn’t sufficiently trained or the numbers needed to deliver retrofit at scale don’t exist. 

One panellist highlighted how different retrofit projects require different skillsets. “The skills for those heritage retrofits and the more traditional buildings, the older buildings, may be distinctly different to retrofit skills needed for more modern buildings,” they said. 

“And of course, we're still building buildings that are going to need retrofitting. So, I think that skills challenge is huge. It's complex, and it's not just about numbers of people, but types of skills.” 

A couple of the panellists relayed instances where certain retrofit technologies hadn’t been installed correctly by contractors, meaning they had to later return to properties to rectify the work. 

“The construction industry needs to make sure they're skilling up and [improving] the quality control of that work that's going in, because it only needs a few upset customers around something not working for them, and that message then spreads out throughout the client base,” one panellist said. 

Financing the future 

No discussion about how the sector can achieve its net-zero goals is complete without mention of funding. And, true to form, panellists were keen to discuss the importance of funding and funding certainty, as well as ways in which the sector can improve efficiencies and reduce costs – particularly when it comes to retrofit. 

Citing their ‘wish list’ for the new government, one panellist said how, in recent years, there had been too much focus on rolling out short-term funding schemes. “We need to move from short-term grant funding to long-term funding for retrofit,” they said, “and I think that needs to be in the context of a properly strategic approach from government that brings together a coherent investment plan for the country.” 

Another panellist called for “clarity and consistency in the longer term, clarity and consistency around standards, around the strategy and policy, and around cash”. 

They added: “If you’ve got those pegs in the ground, you can make stuff work. Even if it's not enough to do everything, you're clear about what you can do.”

That skills challenge is huge – it's complex, and it's not just about numbers of people, but types of skills

Although increasing the energy efficiency of homes is a key priority for the sector, one into which cash should be funnelled, the cold truth is that social landlords are currently battling with several other priorities, all of which are just as important and require large sums of money.

One panellist was keen to relay these pressures to the table, explaining how they are currently pulling forward funding for things like retrofit, while trying to work out what areas of the business that they had planned to invest in they can push to the side – at least temporarily. 

“Now is a particularly challenging time for the sector, and our business plan and our borrowing and interest rates reflect that,” they said, adding: “We do the investment plan programme and for [our] main components, ensuring that our homes remain ‘decent’ and ‘compliant’, but the pressure on us is just massive.” 

As with many things in the sector, it’s usually finance that determines what can and can’t be achieved. That said, during the course of the roundtable, panellists expressed optimism at some of the progress that the sector has so far made on the net-zero agenda, and that it will continue to make, providing efforts continue around upskilling, collaboration, and tenant engagement. 

Indeed, the task at hand might be formidable, but it is by no means insurmountable. 

*This roundtable was subject to the Chatham House rule. While we were able to report on the discussion, we were prohibited from attributing anything that was said to any of the panellists

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