The relational dimensions of renovation: Implications for retrofit policy

Abstract

Retrofitting the UK's housing stock is essential if the UK is to meet its climate commitments. Wider research has addressed how weaknesses in the drafting and implementation of retrofit policy have slowed progress in this area, including the tendency to treat homeowners as discrete, isolated decision makers. We contribute to this research by exploring the wider dynamics that underpin decision-making in and around households. We make this contribution by adapting Hargreaves and Middlemiss's research into the social relations of daily energy use, and Zelizer's research into the social relations of money, to consider how social relations influence decision-making over home renovations. Our findings are based on semi-structured interviews with homeowners in Otley, West Yorkshire, which we conducted from September to December 2021. This interview data demonstrates how the dynamic nature of relations with family and friends, tradespeople, gender, and money, shapes the reasons why people undertake renovations and what they aim to gain from undertaking these works. Focusing on wider renovations enabled us to speak with people who are not already engaged with retrofit policy, shedding light on possible interventions that target ‘able-to-pay’ owner-occupiers. For instance, we highlight the need to identify how people develop trust with tradespeople; account for different social groups' relations to the home; and to foreground how the role of the home changes through time.