One of the many complex challenges in tackling climate change is the pressing need to achieve a major reduction in carbon emissions from existing buildings. Making the necessary improvements to the domestic sector presents particular problems around consumer awareness and priorities, disruption and inconvenience, cost and availability of finance, duration of tenure, and availability of appropriate (and trusted) contractors. While work has been done to try to understand better the views and needs of the households and homeowners, a perspective that tends to be missing in policy debate is that of the contractors themselves. As the first point of contact for many homeowners who want building work done, these key market actors have a great deal of potential to influence such customers, and a wealth of knowledge to bring to retrofit. They could be the frontline in communicating, selling and implementing energy improvements. Research carried out in the UK sought to complement existing knowledge with views from different standpoints, across a range of building trades, merchants and suppliers. The aim was to develop a better understanding of standard practice within the local supply chain in relation to home energy improvements, as a basis for seeking solutions to some of the barriers that exist. The results are presented as a series of gaps: gaps in communications at many levels; gaps in construction education, training and qualifications; gaps between trades and between building professions; gaps in advice and information for homeowners and the building trades; gaps in quality assurance, transparency and accountability; gaps in business offering, and ultimately gaps in policy. © 2019 European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. All rights reserved.
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