Welcome to Climate Resilience - Our Latest Specialist Hub

We often talk about the weather, but this year those conversations have felt a little different. The weather we've experienced over the past year is a powerful reminder that our climate is changing, and the impacts are already here. After one of the wettest winters in recent memory, we have experienced a summer marked by repeated heatwaves which has now been confirmed by the Met Office as the hottest ever on record. With El Niño expected to bring a wetter, stormier winter, there is a growing need to act, not just for ourselves, but for the generations that will follow.

So now seems an apt moment for us to launch our new Climate Resilience Hub in partnership with RE:GEN Group.

Our changing climate is not only a weather issue; it also affects housing providers’ ability to create healthy homes for residents. We feel this through the resident struggling to sleep during a heatwave, families dealing with the consequences of flooding, damp and mould after prolonged periods of extreme weather. Creating healthy homes means looking beyond today's challenges and ensuring every home remains safe, healthy and comfortable, whatever the climate throws at us.

This means our sector needs to adapt.

That’s why we’ve created our new Climate Resilience Hub. The Hub will bring together insight, expertise and practical solutions to help housing providers understand what's coming next and, more importantly, what action they could take now.  

While we will discuss retrofitting housing stock, the Hub will go further by examining the wider impact on the built environment and considering housing within the broader decarbonisation challenges facing regions and local places.

The challenge is bigger than individual homes. Creating resilient communities means thinking beyond bricks and mortar to the homes that are connected to energy networks, transport systems and infrastructure around them. If we want communities to thrive in a changing climate, these pieces need to work together.

Change at this scale requires a systems view because it is a systems challenge that needs a systems solution. Taking this broader perspective helps us focus on where housing can lead and influence change. Through the Hub, we'll identify the wider infrastructure and system changes needed to support climate-resilient communities, while exploring how housing providers can engage with Local Area Energy Plans and other place-based frameworks.

How will we do this?

We will draw upon insight from subject-matter specialists across housing, energy and climate adaptation, and provide a rolling review of UK climate news to keep you up to date on developments most relevant to the sector.

Alongside the Hub, we're launching a regular podcast hosted by our very own Andy Cameron-Smith, the founding editorial director of Unlock Net Zero and Ruth Dent, Chief Experience Officer at RE:GEN Group, with each episode featuring guests to unpack the latest climate news and what this means in practice for our ability to create healthy living environments.

The opening taster episode celebrating the Hub’s launch is available to listen to now.