Why retrofit in the UK isn’t working, and what would fix it.
The premium work funds the consultancy. But the harder, more important problem is the one most of the market steps around: how you make retrofit work for far more than the people who can already afford it.
“The biggest problem with retrofit is that it’s too bloody expensive. There’s no money out there to do it. The UK has to import lots of products. The contractors don’t know what they’re doing. You’ve got a small market of UK product makers — mycelium insulation, hemp insulation — stuck at cottage scale. Banks have green mortgages they don’t know how to lend on. Customers don’t know they can get them. 0% VAT on energy upgrades isn’t being leveraged. A lot of stuff going on, none of it being connected.”
The pieces of a working retrofit market already exist. They just don’t talk to each other. Green Agent’s mission is to connect them.
Recognising what each kind of UK house actually needs, and what it can take. 60mm of insulation is right for a Victorian terrace; 200mm breaks the vapour envelope and damages the building.
Matching property type to owner circumstance, so people get the right level of retrofit, not the maximum.
A clear sequence of options tied to the building, with the thresholds and trade-offs stated honestly.
Tying recommendations to the Warm Homes Plan grant and to green mortgages, and helping owners and lenders understand what they’re for.
Vetted contractor networks who can deliver the specified work to a verified standard.
Heat pump, battery, MVHR, solar and tariff delivered as one system through partners, not a stack of disconnected products.
What was actually saved, measured and reported, so banks can lend on it and government can track it.
Incentives that grow British bio-based and circular-economy manufacturers from cottage scale to category leaders, so the country stops importing what it should be making.
Duncan’s published response to the Warm Homes Plan argues that government retrofit finance should function as an industrial strategy — for UK retrofit manufacturing, bio-based materials and the circular economy — not just a subsidy paid to individual households. Fund the supply chain, not only the upgrade.
The wedge funds the consultancy; the mission gives the wedge its premium. To be straight about it: a lot of this is what Green Agent is building towards. Today, the consultancy delivers bespoke deep retrofit for individual buildings — and every one of those projects sharpens the thinking about how this works at scale.
If you’re thinking about this too — about how we make UK housing healthier and more efficient at scale — Duncan is open to the conversation.
Or email duncan@mygreenagent.co.uk directly.