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Retrofitting the UK’s housing stock to make it sustainable could cost up to £200 billion, according to one leading expert, and it’s not clear where the money will come from. Studies have shown it might be possible to reduce the bill to £58 billion, but it remains a huge number.

The Worshipful Company of Water Conservators’ City Environmental Debate on Sustainable UK Cities was told partnerships within cities and ties-ups involving different cities may help to lower costs and generate the necessary funds, but that ways also need to be found to make investment in the sector attractive to private capital, and to stimulate action from the “mass middle” of home owners.

The debate heard that energy companies might pick up part of the bill – like the help the energy group Octopus gives homeowners installing heat pumps – and that parcelling up groups of UK local authorities into “investible units” might generate economies of scale, making it easier for contractors and encouraginge homeowners to pay to retrofit their properties once they saw widespread take-up among their neighbours.

Bristol’s City LEAP partnership, which aims to deliver £500 million in low carbon energy infrastructure, is one possible model.

The debate heard of several projects that might provide models for the future, among them 1 Triton Square in London, a 1990s office building which had been refurbished rather than demolished, saving ten tons of carbon, and Roots in the Sky, the first office building in London with a rooftop forest.

An enormous opportunity to make cities more sustainable lies in the greening of the 25 per cent of their area now devoted to transport systems. The beneficial effect of trees is enormous: Regents Park in London is seven degrees cooler than the city average thanks to its intensive tree cover.

There are big savings in carbon emissions to be had from something as simple as refurbishing and reusing old office furniture rather than sending it to landfill.

But it is important to work with local communities in trying to make cities and housing stock more resilient: otherwise people feel disempowered and disenfranchised. One contributor speaking from the floor suggested messaging around increasing resilience to climate change needed to be more positive and offer more carrots. “We’re too often horrid to people,” they said. “They think we’re doing stuff to them and not with them.”

This was especially important given the changes in behaviour that might be needed, though “demonstration properties” showing local people what is possible in their area might help to overcome resistance.

Speakers also acknowledged other current obstacles to delivering a circular economy in cities. They include not just the costs but the complexity of the issues, the number of stakeholders, and the fact that some of the interests involved are against change. One speaker accused the housebuilding sector of being especially obstructive and of threatening to use its power to hold the government to ransom by threatening to go slow on achieving government housebuilding targets.

The conference also heard of the need to reform the Energy Performance Certificate regime: as it stands, householders who spend £13,000 installing a ground-source heat pump find their EPC rating goes down not up.

The debate, entitled Sustainable UK Cities: What, How and When? Was held on 2 October. The Worshipful Company of Water Conservators gratefully acknowledges sponsorship by Arup which made the event possible.

The speakers were: Cassie Sutherland, Managing Director for Climate Solutions and Networks at C40 Cities (chair); Dr Paul O’Hare, Manchester Metropolitan University; Michela Ravaglia, Head of Sustainability, Wates Group; Dan S. Dowling, Lead Sustainability Partner, PwC; Dr Greg Lavery, Managing Director, Rype Office; Dima Zogheib, Director of Cities, Planning and Design, Arup

Thanks to Nick Higham highamnews@gmail.com for producing this summary.