― According to the latest figures, 26.5% (or around 649,000) of Scottish households live in fuel poverty while 7.5% of households (183,000) live in extreme fuel poverty. This is unacceptable in contemporary Scotland.
― The Scottish Government should abandon its staged approach to housing energy efficiency improves as it creates ongoing (rather than one-time) upheaval for construction companies and adds to the problem of retrofitting existing buildings to the most efficient standards.
― Instead, all new buildings in Scotland should be constructed to passive and zero-carbon standards.
― Existing buildings are currently scheduled to be retrofitted in stages guided by their EPC rating. Any building retrofitted to meet the EPC C target will need to be retrofitted again at a future date to meet the EPC A target.
― Instead, all buildings should be surveyed immediately and assessed on their maximum feasible retrofitting potential. They should then be scheduled to be retrofitted to that potential in a single project.
― Where it is not possible for buildings to be retrofitted to passive standards, zero carbon abatements such as solar thermal or solar PV should be installed to ensure an adequate level of zero-carbon heating.
― Passive standards such as PassivHaus and Enerphit are well established but other standards should be explored which can produce similar efficiency standards but make more use of locally sourced materials such as Scottish timber and timber products.