With the 2026 Housing Executive Awards getting ever closer, we’re running through exactly what the judges will be keeping an eye out for in each category. The deadline for submissions is 30th June, and you can find all awards criteria and nomination forms at our website.
Retrofit is one of the most pressing challenges facing the social housing sector. With millions of older properties still in need of improvement, the work of upgrading existing housing stock – whether through insulation, heating systems, or wider decarbonisation programmes – is central to the sector’s long-term future. Done well, it reduces energy bills, improves comfort, and makes a measurable difference to residents’ everyday lives.
Nominations for Best Retrofit Initiative should show evidence of:
- Improvement of the quality of lives of residents, positive difference from before and after the retrofit.
- Environmental impacts (where applicable)
- Efficiency throughout the whole retrofit project, from conception to installation
- Seamless integration of the old and new; positive adjustment with little detriment to the original elements of the property
- Positive resident engagement, keeping residents well informed of the benefits of any retrofit works with clear communication throughout.
Read More: Housing Executive Awards 2026: One month left to nominate
Last year, it was Purdy, part of SureServe Group, who took home the award for their Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund project in Chichester, delivering life-changing improvements to 250 homes while pioneering collaborative approaches that the wider sector could learn from. Highly Commended went to First Choice Homes Oldham, whose £5.4m retrofit programme boosted the energy efficiency of 350 homes across the region, and ECD Architects with Ore Valley Housing Association, whose Bowhill development in Cardenden balanced new-build social housing with the restoration of a former miners’ institute.
The standard of entries last year was high, and the judges will be looking for more of the same in 2026. If you know of a retrofit project that has made a real difference to residents’ homes and lives, head to our website and nominate before the 30th June deadline.
