Retrofit – Doing It Right

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With local authorities and housing associations facing acute pressure to upgrade the thermal performance of millions of social homes, retrofitting energy-efficient windows and doors will offer a vital way forward, says Rehau.

A new white paper called Retrofit Right – Making Social Housing More Energy Efficient, explores how the sector can decarbonise 4.4 million UK social homes across the UK that were mostly built between 1945 and 1980. The paper from Rehau confronts the scale of this challenge by demonstrating the crucial nature of informed specification of window and door systems. It underlines the importance of these key components in affecting heat loss in residential properties, detailing relevant standards, regulations and metrics such as those governing thermal performance, noise attenuation, security and ventilation.

 

Get the supply chain right

The report goes on to emphasise the importance of local authorities establishing, bolstering and maintaining supply chains to ensure the specification of high-quality components in these retrofitting efforts.

As explained by Martin Hitchin, CEO at Rehau UK, this third-party supply chain support is also key to bridging knowledge gaps and easing workloads within the social housing sector that may be exacerbated by the scope of the required works.

He says: “The UK’s residential sector is under great pressure to reduce emissions in line with net-zero targets, including a 78% drop in emissions by 2035 and carbon neutrality by 2050. As social housing is publicly owned, there’s undoubtedly additional pressure on local authorities to decarbonise and also to ensure that every pound spent works as hard as possible to achieve the desired energy efficiency improvements. For strained local authorities and housing association teams, this combination of raised expectations and the sheer scale of decarbonising millions of social housing properties make this a daunting challenge.”

 

Retrofit Right

Hitchin adds: “As major sources of heat loss within properties, windows and door systems have a key role to play in improving the thermal performance of social housing. This is why we launched this latest white paper – it provides valuable advice on how to approach the frame specification and upgrading process, complying with relevant standards and regulations, and the importance of medium retrofits in achieving these goals.

“Retrofit Right goes on to emphasise the importance of selecting sustainable materials such as coextruded polymer and advises social housing stakeholders to go beyond the point-of-purchase when selecting new frames. Specifically, it encourages decisionmakers to explore data-driven technologies including integrated digital ID cards for individual frames to streamline later maintenance works for local authorities and housing associations.

 

Maintenance considered

“Material considerations and performance standards of frames are undoubtedly key for local authorities and housing associations carrying out retrofitting projects,” Martin concludes. However, those selecting components should also see how added services can streamline ongoing maintenance works, including breakages and installing additional accessories.

 

Picture: Retrofitting energy-efficient windows will be key to accelerating mandatory upgrading of millions of social homes says Rehau’s Retrofit Right – Making Social Housing More Energy Efficient white paper.

www.window.rehau.com/downloads/2007644/retrofit-right-whitepaper.pdf

Article written by Cathryn Ellis
20th February 2025

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