A housing brief that starts with fabric first

As Andy Burnham steps into Downing Street he faces a considerable challenge, not just to turn around the fortunes of this Labour government, but to convince the country that he can and will provide hope, opportunity and confidence for a better future. A tall order indeed, in a world where social media drives a desire for immediate gratification and impact, however unjust and impossible this may be. Looking at his overflowing inbox, it is clear that one of his toughest and most difficult challenges is housing and the importance this has on so many people’s lives, writes Simon Storer, Chief Executive of Insulation Manufacturers Association.

Therefore, his pledge of £39 billion over the next ten years for council and social housing is welcome, and long overdue. But if this ambition is to deliver lasting value, it needs to be built on the principle of fabric first. Get the insulation right, and everything else, the heat pumps, solar panels, and then the bills people pay, will follow more easily. If the fabric is overlooked then no amount of renewable technology added afterwards will fully make up the difference.

Regrettably we have sold off, run down and simply failed to build enough of these homes for four decades. But that is the challenge we now face, and people in a wealthy economy like ours should be able to expect a decent home as standard. So the scale of this pledge is encouraging. The question, as always, is whether delivery can match the ambition. Housing pledges of this size have a habit of being chipped away over time by cost objections and competing pressures, and it would be a negation of duty to future generations if fabric standards were among the first casualties.

Quantity should not come at the expense of quality. There is an understandable temptation to see solar panels and heat pumps as a quick route to progress, without always doing the essential groundwork first. But fitting renewables to a home that is not properly insulated can mean disappointing performance and higher running costs, and it is often the technology that gets blamed when the real issue lies in poor fabric of the building itself. Insulation matters just as much in summer as in winter, as it stops the heat flow through the fabric of the building. With extreme heat now becoming more frequent, this is not a detail we can afford to overlook as it can reduce or even eliminate the need for mechanical cooling.

Quality of life matters here too. Too many people live in blocks with very little access to green space or nearby tree cover, and this tends to be more common in less affluent areas. The leafy suburbs we all recognise as pleasant places to live are leafy for a reason. If this housing programme is to bring back a genuine sense of investment in people, and not just deliver units to hit a number, it needs to consider the whole environment people live in, not only the four walls around them. And we must reintroduce a sense of place with an emphasis on pride and wellbeing.

None of this is possible without a construction sector that has the confidence to invest in skills and training. We have seen years of short-lived initiatives that arrive with good intentions and then fade when funding tightens, which sends a discouraging signal to anyone considering a career in this industry. If Burnham wants a programme that still holds up against our 2050 targets, he will need sustained commitment, not just a strong start.

So welcome to the job, Andy. Insist on getting the fabric right. Do not go for a quick fix. But do maintain that commitment over time, and give proper thought to the quality of the places people live in, not just the number of front doors delivered. Do that, and this could genuinely be the step change in housing this country has needed for a generation.

For more information about IMA or to download best practice guides visit www.insulationmanufacturers.org.uk