Non-traditional social housing in the UK

Homes account for 26% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the UK, primarily arising from energy consumption. The UK's housing stock is among the oldest and least energy-efficient in the world, relying heavily on heating, typically powered by gas. As a result, meeting the UK’s net zero greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050 relies on housing retrofitting for energy efficiency. Housing retrofit provides several benefits, such as reduced energy demand and costs, thereby reducing fuel poverty; improved comfort and wellbeing for occupants; and lower maintenance and repair costs. The social rented sector accounts for 4 million (17%) of England's projected 24 million households and approximately 5 million homes in the UK. Despite having a larger proportion of energy-efficient housing within its stock than other tenures, social housing has a significant decarbonisation challenge. The housing shortage at the end of the Second World War sparked a local-authority-driven house-building initiative across the nation. To meet the demand, in addition to 'traditional' brick-built homes, an estimated 1.5 million 'non-traditional' homes were constructed between the 1940s and the 1970s. Half of the stock is still in the social rented sector, which also falls under the Energy Saving Trust's subcategory group of 'hard-to-treat' homes. Precast reinforced concrete, in-situ concrete, and steel-framed construction were the most prevalent types of non-traditional construction. In spite of the fact that non-traditional housing comprises a significant portion of the social housing stock and exhibits greater improvement potential, due to its innate architectural complexities, it tends to be overlooked in favour of other traditional archetypes when it comes to retrofitting with energy-efficiency measures. Additionally, it remains a challenge to understand and identify the key characteristics of these typologies. This is, therefore, the focus of this work. The authors have explored the potential impact of retrofitting ‘hard-to-treat’ homes on the UK’s net zero ambitions. The authors have identified and collated the most prevalent non-traditional housing archetypes' stock profile, general characteristics, features, and construction conditions. This comprehensive evaluation covered construction systems such as Wimpey No Fines, British Iron and Steel Federation Housing, and Cornish Unit type. This will aid in understanding the existing thermal performance and serve as a basis for suggesting practical and cost-effective retrofit alternatives for future research.