Improving home energy efficiency - retrofit assessment review: policy report
We asked experts to help design a new way to assess home energy upgrades in late 2024. The goal is to encourage smarter retrofits, build stronger public trust, and make real progress toward cleaner heating. The information presented in this report has been produced independently on behalf of the Scottish Government
Disclosure of Interests
The Project Team declare that every effort has been made to eliminate bias in the production of this report, and that the three peer reviewers (Dr Richard Atkins, Ran Boydell, and Dr Bill Sheldrick) were not given access to the written drafts of the reports prior to the peer review periods in January and February 2025. However, as would be expected, all members of the Project Team have professional interests in the fields covered by the research, as follows:
Dr Keith Baker FRSA is Research Fellow at the Built Environment Asset Management (BEAM) Centre at Glasgow Caledonian University; a Director of Common Weal and Convenor of its Energy Working Group; a co-founder of the Energy Poverty Research initiative, a non-constituted organisation recognised as a spin-out from GCU’s BEAM Centre; a Director of Pattiesmuir Ltd, a not-for-profit micro-SME established to provide training and education, and to advocate for adult learners; and a Director of Scientists for Global Responsibility.
Magdalena Blazusiak MCIAT is a Chartered Architectural Technologist, Director and a Vice Chair of the Scottish Ecological Design Association, and a lecturer and PhD candidate at Robert Gordon University.
Dr Ron Mould FRSA is a co-founder of the Energy Poverty Research initiative, a member of Common Weal’s Energy Working Group, and Zero Carbon Manager at Bield Housing and Care.
Natasha Houchin FRIAS, RIBA is a Director of the Scottish Ecological Design Association and Lead Building Performance Consultant at Carbon Futures, Architect & Passivhaus Designer at CarbonFutures.
Dr Mark Phillipson is Head of the Department of Civil Engineering and Environmental Management at Glasgow Caledonian University.
Dr Jonathan Scott FCIAT, SFHEA is a Chartered Architectural Technologist and a Course Leader in Architectural Technology at Robert Gordon University.
Dr Richard Atkins FRIAS, RIBA is an independent Chartered Architect. A Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, a Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. A Member of RIAS Council, soon to be Board of Trustees, Chair of the Governance & Policy Committee, member of the Practice Committee and Sustainability Working Group, soon to be Committee. Cofounder of RIAS-regs and Technical Advisor to the Scheme. Director and shareholder of Home Energy and Data Services. Member of the Glasgow Caledonian University’s Built Environment and Asset Management (BEAM) Centre Advisory Board. Member of Heriot-Watt University’s Architectural Engineering Programme, Industrial Advisory Board. Member of the Norton Park Trust Board. Member and former Chair of the Scottish Ecological Design Association. Former Chair of BHA Enterprise Limited. Member of previous Building Standard Division of the Scottish Government, Working Groups on Sections 3, 4 and 6 of the Technical Standards.
Ran Boydell is an architecture and sustainable design consultant in private practice, has previously taught at Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt Universities, and until May 2025 was a Director of the Scottish Ecological Design Association.
Dr Bill Sheldrick is the founder of Alembic Research and a member of the Energy Poverty Research initiative.
Contact
Email: EPCenquiries@gov.scot