Our Purpose & Vision
Our overarching ambition is that
Everyone in the UK lives in healthy homes that are fit for the future.
Retrofitting means improving existing homes so they waste less energy. This includes home improvements, like better insulation, new windows, and modern heating systems. Because the UK has committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050, almost all 29 million homes will need this kind of work.
When done properly, retrofits can make a big difference to people's lives:
- Warmer homes in winter, which reduces health risks linked to cold.
- Lower energy bills, because less heat escapes.
- Cleaner indoor air, especially if home ventilation is improved.
- Less exposure to outdoor pollution, thanks to better-sealed windows and walls.
These benefits are especially important for older adults, children, and people with long-term illnesses.
If upgrades focus on sealing homes without adding ventilation, problems can include:
- Trapped moisture, leading to damp and mould
- Build up of indoor air pollution from cooking fumes, chemicals and cleaning products
- Worsening health due to a more polluted indoor environment
The INHABIT Hub's role is to make sure the UK's move to net zero homes also creates healthier places to live. It does this by generating new scientific evidence on the impacts of retrofitting in real homes, and turning this into practical advice for government and industry professionals.
The INHABIT Hub
The INHABIT Hub aims to produce scientific evidence and policy-relevant solutions to realise the health co-benefits of the UK's net zero transition in housing. Our main objectives include:
- Establishing and growing a transdisciplinary hub to become an International Centre of Excellence that pioneers the improvement in indoor environments and health as the housing sector transitions to net zero.
- a systems understanding of retrofits' impacts, through observations and modelling, focusing on indoor environment, health and inequalities to promote health-centred actions.
- Creating a collaborative learning space to boost stakeholders' and researchers' skills in transdisciplinary research and net zero delivery.
- Co-producing example retrofitting projects that integrate net zero considerations with health and address inequality.
Open & Searchable Directory
The Retrofit Directory has been created to map the organisations involved in UK housing decarbonisation. It also serves as an entry point to the mass of documentation, policy and regulations that relate to retrofitting.
It is publicly available and searchable, supporting organisations to identify one another, build partnerships, and collaborate effectively across regional and national initiatives.
The Directory is accessed through an artificial intelligence-powered search interface, which means that you can ask questions in ordinary language and it will retrieve answers from its knowledge base, which includes not only details about many organisations including contact information and the services they offer, but also over 70 policy documents, briefings, handbooks, and government regulations.
The Directory is a work in progress, and we welcome feedback and suggestions for improvement. Please get in touch via email.
Image Credits
- Stone terraced houses, Tottington: Photo by Mark Williamson / Geograph / CC BY-SA 2.0
- Densely packed rooftops (Brixham): Photo by Colin Smith / Geograph / CC BY-SA 2.0
- 1960s Terraced Housing: Photo by Phil Champion / Geograph / CC BY-SA 2.0
- Terraced houses on a hill (Bath): Photo by Adrian Pingstone / Public Domain