The Construction Products Association has welcomed the government's latest consultation on Heat and Energy Saving Strategy (HESS), but has called for greater detail of both the finance and delivery mechanisms if the scheme is to have any chance of being delivered.

John Tebbit, Industry Affairs Director at the Construction Products Association said: "We are pleased the government is beginning to recognise the scale of the problem facing the country. This strategy aims to upgrade every building in the UK by 2030, but the need to scale up the response to match the ambition is still some way off."

Mr Tebbit believes the upgrade of 25 million homes in the UK is equivalent to building either a Crossrail project or two Olympics every year for the next two to three decades.


"This would mean a doubling of the existing housing Repair Maintenance and Improvement spend and we estimate this would require an additional half a million extra workers. If you include all other buildings - schools, hospitals, offices, factories and shops - it probably adds half as much again," he said.

Mr Tebbit said there is "no doubt" that the industry could deliver these improvements, if given a long term, well funded delivery plan.

"However, we have outlined in great detail our view of what is needed and submitted this to government. We wait to see whether the rhetoric of HESS will be matched by action on the ground on a scale that is needed," he added.

Given the size of the challenge the Association does not believe that householders will commit substantial funds to home improvement without both fiscal incentives and regulatory requirements. How these two are balanced over the two to three decades that HESS will take will be a complex and politically challenging task but one that must be successfully achieved.

In advance of the consultation, the Association also launched a short pamphlet entitled "Delivering Low Carbon Existing Housing Stock" which explains the challenges ahead and outlines a number of key issues the government needs to address, including how the current plethora of home improvement initiatives should be co-ordinated in order to deliver maximum benefit to the existing stock.

(GK/JM)