As the UK is hit by the fourth heatwave of 2026, Will Hurst argues in the Architects’ Journal (AJ) that a bombshell MHCLG survey has laid bare years of failure by central government to regulate construction’s carbon footprint, ‘including the 20 per cent VAT penalty’.
Will Hurst writes for the AJ:
… Based on 13 qualitative interviews and almost 1,000 survey responses from organisations including the RIBA, the RTPI… and the Home Builders Federation, the paper reports overwhelming evidence that the UK’s planning system is unclear and weak on embodied carbon. It also confirms that financial factors, including the 20 per cent VAT penalty, make retrofit commercially unattractive.
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.. ‘The findings reveal strong stakeholder support for clearer national guidance, standardised carbon assessment methods, and fiscal measures such as VAT harmonisation to incentivise retrofit,’ the report said…
See the ‘bombshell’ here
