How many UK homes need retrofitting and how will asbestos impact this?

Retrofitting has loomed large in recent years as a major priority for homeowners and even governments, and there are many good reasons for this.

With the UK’s housing stock believed to be among the oldest and leakiest in western Europe, and possibly the world, many residential properties up and down the UK are not as energy efficient as they ideally would be. Furthermore, the UK’s domestic buildings are still overly dependent on fossil fuels, instead of drawing upon clean, renewable energy.

As a consequence of these factors, UK residents are having to turn up the heating more often than should need to be the case, at a time when high energy bills continue to be a massive problem.

Retrofitting is also, of course, a powerful weapon in the fight against climate change. However, with it having been estimated that some 29 million homes in the UK will need to be retrofitted if the Government is to meet its net zero target by 2050, there can be no doubt about how challenging – not least financially – wholesale retrofitting will be to achieve.

This is before one even considers that the now-banned mineral known as asbestos is estimated to be present in hundreds of thousands of UK buildings constructed or renovated prior to the substance being outlawed in 1999.

A notorious carcinogen, asbestos can pose severe health risks if it is disturbed. This, as we explore in further detail below, means that great care will need to be taken when retrofitting older homes in every part of the UK.

What is retrofitting?

The term “retrofitting” refers to the practice of carrying out upgrades to a property; it is used particularly often in reference to work on improving a building’s thermal efficiency. When a property is subject to retrofitting measures such as the installation of roof, wall, and floor insulation, solar panels, or heat pumps, this can help make the given property more energy-efficient, greener, and cheaper to run.

Retrofitting projects like these can bring various benefits to the owner or occupant of a domestic property. A home that is well-insulated and sealed will be more comfortable to live in, with minimal annoying drafts, or instances when the home feels like an oven at the height of summer. It can also – as we mentioned above – help lower energy bills and help prepare the home for the energy efficiency standards and technologies of the future.

How many UK homes need retrofitting?

As we mentioned above, about 29 million homes in the UK will need to be retrofitted by the middle of this century.

Various other statistics illustrate the sheer scale of the need and challenge when it comes to retrofitting these properties over the years ahead; only around 50% of UK homes, for example, have insulated walls. Furthermore, with just under two-thirds of the country’s residential properties having an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of “D” or below, it is clear that too many homes are still wasting precious energy.

It is also concerning that around 85% of homes in the UK are heated by gas, given that this renders people living in the UK highly vulnerable to future gas price increases. The great news, though, is that according to the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), simply upgrading the country’s 19 million homes that have an EPC “D” rating or below to a grade “C” would drive down demand for gas by a fifth.

It should be no great surprise, then, that the UK Government has launched its own initiatives in recent years to help fund retrofitting work in domestic properties. These have included the likes of the Green Homes Grant voucher scheme and the Sustainable Warmth competition (although it should be noted that at the time of writing, both these schemes have now closed).

Why is asbestos a concern in homes that need retrofitting?

More than a generation has now passed since the ban on all forms of asbestos in the UK was imposed in late 1999. In light of this, it can be easy for many people today to overlook – or simply be unaware of – the extremely extensive use of the substance in the construction sector during much of the 20th century. This was particularly the case from around the 1950s until the 1980s, when major restrictions began to be put on the material’s use.

This naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral once had a reputation as a “wonder material”, due to qualities like its relative affordability, availability, mechanical strength, and resistance to heat, fire, biological, and chemical degradation. Nor do asbestos fibres dissolve in water or evaporate.

As we have written about previously at Oracle Solutions, such qualities meant the substance went on to be incorporated into a wide range of products used in the construction of homes. These products – encompassing the likes of asbestos roof sheeting, loose fill insulation, pipe insulation, bath panels, wall and ceiling linings, and many more – could be vulnerable to disturbance if certain retrofitting projects are carried out in the building.

Any such disturbance to asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) could cause loose asbestos fibres to be released from them. The resultant asbestos fibres or dust – which can often be very difficult to see with the naked eye – could then be inhaled or swallowed by someone nearby.

This, in turn, could place the exposed individual at heightened risk of developing a potentially fatal asbestos-related health condition – such as mesothelioma or asbestos-related lung cancer – possibly many years into the future.

Even to this day, around 5,000 deaths a year in the UK can be attributed to asbestos-related disease. So, this is a risk that anyone planning and coordinating retrofitting work in a building must take extremely seriously.

How does asbestos impact the retrofitting process?

If you are the owner, manager, and/or occupant of a given domestic property that dates prior to 1999 – in other words, when asbestos was still in legal use in the UK – a logical starting point is to determine what the asbestos situation in your building actually is.

The purpose of an asbestos survey is to provide accurate details of the location, amount, and condition of ACMs in a building. By ascertaining this information about your domestic property, you will then be able to coordinate any retrofitting work in a way that minimises the dangers of asbestos to workers and anyone else in close proximity to such work.

There are two broad types of asbestos survey available: the management survey and the refurbishment or demolition survey. The first of these two types of survey is designed to help with the management of a given property during its normal occupation and use.

The second type of survey is somewhat more intrusive and destructive. However, given the similarly intrusive nature of many retrofitting projects, a refurbishment or demolition survey can be an excellent way to identify any ACMs that may be more deeply hidden within the fabric of a building.

An asbestos survey, of course, is certainly not free. So, if you are looking to arrange one prior to commencing retrofitting work at your residential property, you will need to carefully account for the costs.

Once the surveying itself is complete, you can expect to be provided with a report setting out all the ACMs that the surveyor found to be present in your building. This will be accompanied by photographs and recommendations on how you can safely manage the discovered asbestos materials at your site.

On the basis of such factors as the exact ACMs that are found, their condition, and the likely risk of them being disturbed in the future (including during the retrofitting work you have planned), you might need to take certain asbestos management actions.

You may, for instance, decide to have certain ACMs encapsulated – in other words, effectively “sealed off” to prevent fibres being released from them in the future. Alternatively, you might judge that the risk posed by the ACMs necessitates them being removed from the property altogether. The exact situation can differ from property to property, so you shouldn’t hesitate to seek tailored advice from an accredited and reputable asbestos expert.

If certain steps need to be taken to manage and/or remove asbestos in your domestic property before retrofitting work gets underway, this could have the effect of delaying such retrofitting projects and adding to your overall costs. So, you will need to plan for all these impacts.

However, for ensuring the safety and peace of mind of everyone involved in (and impacted by) retrofitting work, these measures will almost certainly be worthwhile.

What are the legal requirements for managing asbestos in retrofitting projects?

There can sometimes be confusion among the owners and/or managers of domestic properties in Great Britain as to the legal requirements that apply to them when it comes to asbestos in their buildings. This often arises from the fact that the UK’s overarching asbestos legislation – the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (CAR 2012) – is largely directed at non-domestic properties.

However, there are certain circumstances in which CAR 2012 is applicable to domestic buildings, too. It can apply, for example, to some common areas in residential properties such as the foyers, lifts, stairs, lobbies, communal yards, storerooms, and external outbuildings of blocks of flats. The entrance halls, staircases, and roof spaces of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) can also be subject to this legislation.

There are a few other things to bear in mind about legal obligations, depending on whether you are a homeowner living in a domestic property, or a landlord:

• If you own and live in a particular residential property and you are looking to have it retrofitted, you won’t be legally responsible for any asbestos-related risks to contractors. This will be the case provided that, as the owner of the property, you will not be carrying out any work yourself. Instead, it will be the contractor’s responsibility to comply with the asbestos regulations when working on a domestic property like yours
• If, on the other hand, you are the landlord of the domestic building where you are intending to have retrofitting undertaken, as the person with responsibility for maintaining the building’s structure, you will be classed as a “dutyholder” under CAR 2012. This means you will be responsible for managing asbestos in the property in adherence to the requirements that CAR 2012 sets out.

Conclusion: you must be alert to asbestos dangers when coordinating retrofitting

Asbestos is not a merely “historical” concern for the owners and managers of domestic properties in the UK. It is still widely present in residential buildings up and down the country that were constructed or renovated before the year 2000. So, there could be a very real risk of dangerous disturbance being caused to ACMs as a consequence of retrofitting work such as the installation of new heating systems or insulation.

If, then, you own or otherwise maintain one of the 29 million homes in the UK that will need to be retrofitted in the years ahead, and you are planning such work imminently, it is crucial that you seek out professional expertise.

Our own highly trained and seasoned asbestos experts at Oracle Solutions, for example, can advise and guide you, to help ensure you manage asbestos safely in your property and in accordance with the regulations.

You won’t regret prioritising asbestos awareness and management of this substance if you intend to oversee or carry out retrofitting work. For further information and to request a free and fast quote for any of our asbestos services, please feel free to contact our team today.