Press Release from FMB  reads:

Building firms, product manufacturers and suppliers could stand to tap into a new market worth between £3.5 and £6.5 billion per year if the UK developed policies, skills programmes, and financial incentives to upgrade our existing housing stock to make it greener and more energy efficient. In addition a refurbished housing stock would help reduce escalating household energy bills as well as making a real difference to climate change. These are the startling conclusions from a new research report, ‘Building A Greener Britain-Transforming Britain’s Housing Stock’, commissioned by the Federation of Mater Builders (FMB) from the Environmental Change Institute, at Oxford University.

The report’s recommendations include:

· New government housing policy to demonstrate its commitment to low-carbon refurbishment of existing homes, so that manufacturers and suppliers can invest with confidence in the development of the necessary supply chains

· Cut VAT from 17.5 per cent to 5 per cent on housing refurbishment across the UK as soon as possible.

· Introduce Council Tax rebates to promote energy efficient homes

· Introduce a feed-in tariff to stimulate greater uptake of micro-generation technologies

· Review of Energy Performance Certificates  to improve accuracy and reliability

· Energy efficient to be carried out at the same time as other refurbishment work.

For more information please visit: www.fmb.org.uk