The Measuring Outcomes & Impact Evaluation project emerged directly from the National Retrofit Hub’s State of the Nation Review. That review identified a persistent gap in how retrofit success is identified and assessed across the UK.
Much of the current system relies on modelled energy performance and compliance indicators. While important, these measures do not always reflect how homes actually perform or how residents experience retrofit. The project was established to examine whether we are measuring the right things and to explore how outcome measurement can better support effective retrofit.
Timescale: January 2025 to December 2025
The State of the Nation Review highlighted that retrofit is often judged by technical metrics rather than lived experience of improvements. Yet residents experience retrofit through warmth, air quality, reduced damp, and overall wellbeing.
The purpose of this project is to strengthen the connection between retrofit investment and real outcomes in people’s homes. It seeks to ensure that public funding leads to measurable improvement in housing quality and resident experience, not simply compliance with performance standards.
By broadening how success is defined, the project aims to support better decision making and stronger confidence in retrofit delivery.
The project combines detailed evidence review with structured engagement across the sector.
It has examined existing performance frameworks and analysed how outcomes are currently monitored within retrofit programmes. Through workshops and consultation, the project has engaged housing providers, policymakers, researchers, and delivery practitioners to understand where current systems fall short.
Particular attention has been given to how comfort and health impacts can be reflected in assessment processes without creating excessive reporting burden. The work also considers how outcome measurement influences funding design and programme accountability.
The project develops practical recommendations that can operate within existing regulatory and funding structures while improving clarity about what retrofit is achieving in practice.
