On Tuesday 24 February, the CIOB Policy and Public Affairs team hosted its first parliamentary drop-in event in Portcullis House, bringing together MPs, Peers and parliamentary staff to discuss the urgent challenge of upgrading the UK’s housing stock. The event marked the launch of our new EPC Ratings Map, an interactive tool showing the number of dwellings with an EPC rating of D or below in every constituency, highlighting the scale of the retrofit challenge and the need for a clear, long-term national strategy.

Residential buildings account for around 20 per cent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. With the UK legally committed to net zero by 2050, improving the energy performance of existing homes is essential. The Government’s Warm Homes Plan is a welcome step forward in tackling fuel poverty and improving domestic energy efficiency, but it does not yet provide the comprehensive, long-term retrofit framework needed to deliver change at scale.

Our map shows that nationally, 56 per cent of residential dwellings are rated EPC D or below, with clear regional clusters where upgrading work is most urgently required, including parts of Wales, the East Midlands and North Yorkshire. These disparities underline the importance of a coordinated national approach that recognises local variation while providing policy certainty.

Discussions at the event also highlighted the need for fiscal coherence. While the temporary 0 per cent VAT rate on qualifying Energy Saving Materials is positive, its limited scope and time-bound nature create uncertainty. Aligning tax incentives with carbon reduction goals will be crucial if retrofit is to be prioritised over more carbon-intensive options.

We were delighted to welcome more than 10 MPs, Peers and parliamentary staff to the session, with several others expressing interest in the topic. We are especially grateful to Wera Hobhouse MP and her team for kindly sponsoring the drop-in and supporting this important conversation.

The EPC Ratings Map is now publicly available and offers constituency-level insight to support evidence-based discussion. If you would like to explore what the data shows for your area, or discuss what it means in practice, our policy and public affairs team would be pleased to hear from you.