Editor’s Viewpoint

MANAGING EDITOR

TERRY SMITH EMAIL: tsmith@hamerville.co.uk

DEPUTY EDITOR

LEE JONES EMAIL: ljones@hamerville.co.uk

GROUP ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER

CRAIG JOWSEY TEL: 07900 248102 EMAIL: craig@hamerville.co.uk

NORTHERN ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER

IAN DUFF MOBILE: 07810 353525 EMAIL: probuilder@sky.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

DONNA BOOTH

GROUP PRODUCTION MANAGER

CAROL PADGETT

DIGITAL MANAGER

JASMINE SMITH EMAIL: jsmith@hamerville.co.uk

DIGITAL ASSISTANT

LUCY HARDING EMAIL: lharding@hamerville.co.uk

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

KARL CLARK

PRINTED BY

WALSTEAD PETERBOROUGH

PUBLISHED BY HAMERVILLE MEDIA GROUP

Regal House, Regal Way, Watford, Herts WD24 4YF Tel: (01923) 237799 Fax: (01923) 246901 Email: pb@hamerville.co.uk

Professional Builder is a business magazine for firms and individuals involved in all aspects of the building industry. It is available nationally –free to the trade through leading builders’ merchant outlets. © 2023

To be removed from this magazine’s circulation, please call 01923 237799 or email circulation@hamerville.co.uk.

Subscriptions to Professional Builder are available at the following rates: UK: 1 year (11 issues) –£30.00 post paid Europe & Overseas: 1 year (11 issues) –£50.00 post paid Airmail: 1 year (11 issues) –£65.00 post paid

viewpoint

time for a little retro-spection!

Whether it’s a Millennium Dome, Olympic Park, high speed rail link – or even a ‘Boris bridge’ – politicians of all persuasions love backing a major infrastructure project. It promises our elected representatives a legacy far beyond the often brutally brief passing of their political careers and guarantees a starring role on our nightly TV news shows. Motorways, railways, and other major developments have all jostled for the headlines in the Government’s efforts to boost construction in recent times, but the calls for a focus much closer to home are becoming ever louder and, it has to be said, ever more desperate.

The spectacle of a Minister standing amidst the refurbishment of an average semidetached proudly declaring that “what we really could do with is millions more of these” is probably too much to ask for, but the pressing need to update our existing housing stock, and the public appetite for making those improvements, has never been greater.

Rather than being entirely motivated by the need to lighten the tread of our nation’s carbon footprint, homeowners have recognised (without the ridiculous self-righteous posturing of those eco zealots it has to be said) that even fitting new insulation, for instance, could help ease the pain of those ever spiralling energy bills – a motive that is also driving an increase in interest in all things renewable. A proper concerted focus on upgrading what we already have in the domestic sector, instead of continually being obsessed with new builds, also generates far more immediate returns than a vanity project that might not get off the ground for many years – and the “Underfloor heating, heat pumps potential on our own doorstep is, quite and electric car charging points are literally, enormous. being highlighted as some of the The FMB has been amongst the most consistently vocal in criticising the most desirable upgrades, and all Government for not having a cohesive are surely within the remit of retrofit strategy, which it believes is a suitably experienced tradespeople.” constant barrier to greening the nation’s homes and upskilling the workforce to deliver a truly sustainable built environment. “A national plan to make our existing 29 million homes more energy efficient would help slash energy bills and create a pipeline of work for local builders,” states its CEO, Brian Berry who has also reiterated the on-going call to remove VAT on all RMI work, which would help builders pass on savings to hard-pressed customers.

His suggestions would certainly be well received by the almost two thirds of homeowners who, a recent survey suggests, are now planning to upgrade their properties over the next ten years to negate inevitable price increases. Interestingly, it’s a stat which in just twelve months has already increased by ten per cent and that was before the latest cost of living crisis. Underfloor heating, heat pumps and electric car charging points are being highlighted as some of the most desirable upgrades, all surely within the remit of suitably experienced tradespeople. As laid out by think tank, IPPR in a far reaching 28-year plan to retrofit every household in England, the move would create as many as 1.2 million direct jobs as well as 1.5 million indirect roles, and provide a cornerstone for the levelling up agenda by reducing household bills by an average of £430 per annum.

So, perhaps there could yet be a silver lining to all those icy grey clouds circling ominously at the start of 2023 … but only if the Government finally recognises that instead of looking exclusively to the future – 2050, Net Zero and all that – some simple retro-spection right now could ultimately pay dividends in the coming decades.