How RetroNetZero is Bridging the Gap Between Retrofit Innovation and Regulation.

Written by Rachael Owens – NRH Co-Director

Over the last 20 months at the National Retrofit Hub, I have been impressed and inspired by innovators in our sector. Every week we speak with people who are pushing boundaries, rethinking how we use data, finding smarter applications for materials, and developing more efficient technologies. Their ideas spark real possibilities for scaling up retrofit. But, as exciting as innovation is, it often moves faster than the systems around it, leaving brilliant ideas stuck at the gate. 

On the surface, innovation and regulation can feel like opposing forces. Innovation thrives on speed and experimentation, while regulation moves more slowly, grounded in the need for consistency, safety, and evidence. And yet, both are essential. Regulation plays a critical role in protecting people, businesses and the environment, stepping in when the market alone can’t deliver the outcomes society needs. The challenge we face is bridging the gap between these two forces to unlock the full potential of retrofit. 

That’s where RetroNetZero comes in. This new project has been driven by the very frustrations we hear from innovators who are struggling to navigate the complex regulatory landscape. Funded by Innovate UK, RetroNetZero brings together partners including BRE, Constructing Excellence, the National Retrofit Hub, NEF, CPA and PlanetMark. Our shared goal is to use ‘regulatory science’ to help good-quality innovations reach the market more smoothly. 

SO, WHAT EXACTLY IS ‘REGULATORY SCIENCE’?

It’s about producing the evidence regulators need to support change, or the tools people need to navigate existing regulations more easily. This might mean gathering or analysing data, developing new or improved testing methods, or building clearer pathways to use existing regulations more effectively. 

RetroNetZero will work closely with our networks to identify and address key challenges. Each quarter, we’ll focus on three specific challenges. The first that the National Retrofit Hub will lead, is on Co-Benefits. 

INCENTIVISING CO-BENEFITS OF RETROFIT THROUGH REGULATION

Often, the regulation and funding that informs retrofit projects is laser-focused on energy cost and/or carbon reductions, however, we know that the benefits of retrofit are much broader.  

Take EPCs for example. Currently, if a product makes your home more energy efficient, it can earn SAP points, improving the property’s EPC rating once installed. Sometimes, this also involves navigating the Appendix Q process—one of our other ‘challenges’! Installation of the product is then incentivised through regulation: whether by eligibility for funding, helping achieve MEES compliance, or supporting a householder’s EPC goals. But what if a product doesn’t impact energy efficiency, and instead has a positive impact on indoor air quality, biodiversity, or reducing the risk of damp and mould? How would regulation incentivise its use? Would vulnerable households still be supported to install it? 

During this ‘Challenge’ we will investigate the co-benefits associated with retrofit, and test whether they could be better incentivised by regulation. We’ll be considering how benefits of retrofit are created through specific improvements. We know good quality retrofit can improve occupants’ health and wellbeing, that happens because of improvements in thermal comfort, indoor air quality, and more. Scroll to the end if you’d like to dig into the detail of the co-benefits we’ll be studying. 

WHAT’S NEXT?

We’ll soon be hosting a workshop with our Working Group 2 to dig into these variables. We’ll ask questions like: 

• Do we need more data on the impacts or outcomes? 
• Are new or improved tools or standards required? 
• Do we need better test evidence? 
• Can we create more visible pathways to use existing regulation? 

Alongside this, we’ll carry out a desktop study to identify which regulations already support these co-benefits and where changes might help. For instance, could the Decent Homes Standard be adapted to better incentivise damp and mould reduction? 

I believe that by understanding and incentivising co-benefits more effectively, we can unlock even greater value from retrofit projects, improving lives, strengthening communities and supporting the wider net-zero transition. 

If you’re as curious as I am about the potential of co-benefits, or if you have insights or data that could support this work, we’d love to hear from you. Let’s work together to shape a regulatory landscape that drives innovation while delivering healthier, more resilient homes for everyone. 

TECHNICAL DETAIL – IDENTIFICATION OF IN-SCOPE BENEFITS

We identified three categories of co-benefit to get us started: 

• Physical and mental health and wellbeing benefits 
• Whole life cycle carbon and ecological impact reductions 
• Solutions to infrastructure challenges 

We excluded life cycle impact from this ‘challenge’ scope as: 

• Whole life carbon regulation and revisions to the EU Construction Products Regulation would go some way to providing the regulatory incentive required  
• There is another Regulatory Science and Innovation Network tackling this subject – Life Cycle Assessment Regulatory Science & Innovation Network  

We then identified a series of variables that create each co-benefit, think of these as the ingredients needed to produce the outcomes we are looking for.

Variables in-scope for this project need to be achievable through innovation and enabled through regulatory science – they must be measurable, with product-solutions, and not be incentivised already by the market.