Dr Peter Hindle MBE, general delegate for Saint-Gobain in the UK, Ireland and South Africa, has undersigned a letter to all three of the main political parties setting out concerns with current retrofit policy and calling for action to address these issues.

The letter, issued by the UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC) and undersigned by 10 construction industry leaders, highlights the scale of the retrofit challenge and outlines a number of recommendations to drive take up of the Green Deal.

Suggestions include exploring options available to reduce risk associated with providing Green Deal finance; incentivising the scheme through measures such as Council Tax or Stamp Duty; the formation of a high level industry advisory board to facilitate better stakeholder engagement; and long-term political consensus around retrofit.

Dr Hindle said: “The scale of the challenge facing the UK in terms of retrofit is staggering. To put it into perspective, the UK’s existing homes need to be refurbished at the rate of one per minute between now and 2050 if we are to stand a chance of meeting carbon reduction targets.

“As well as playing a significant part in improving the energy efficiency of the country’s 26 million domestic properties the scheme has the potential to stimulate the economy and create jobs in the construction sector. It represents a huge opportunity and more must be done to drive its uptake, which is why we are calling on all three political parties to address the challenge with a greater degree of cross party consensus.”