Jocelyne Fleming

While giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee on the Government’s draft Climate Change Plan last week, I found myself returning to familiar themes. The intentions behind the draft plan are strong, and its ambition is welcome. As I highlighted during the discussions, Scotland’s construction sector is a willing and capable partner in delivering a just transition, and there is clear alignment between the plan’s aims and the sector’s commitment to improving the quality, safety and energy performance of Scotland’s buildings.

However, as I told the Committee, intention is not enough. The plan, as currently drafted, sits within an already crowded policy landscape and does not yet consider (much less outline) how these proposals will be delivered on the ground. Without stronger links to existing policy frameworks on housing, skills, building quality and local authority capacity, there is a real risk that well-meaning proposals will generate unintended consequences for households, for the industry, and Scotland’s built environment.

One of my core concerns is the plan’s predominant focus on heating systems rather than whole-home, fabric first retrofit. Decarbonising heat is vital, but it cannot be meaningfully pursued without first addressing the condition and energy efficiency of the buildings and homes into which they are installed. Too often, Scotland sees heating initiatives brought forward without sufficient regard for the fabric of the homes in question, particularly pre-1919 properties which already face poor maintenance, damp and mould, poor thermal performance, and high heating costs.

During the session, I shared examples from CIOB’s previous research on social housing retrofit, where housing associations installed heat pumps into energy-inefficient properties only to discover later that the systems were oversized once fabric improvements were subsequently carried out. This is not only inefficient and costly, but it fails to improve comfort, affordability and long-term performance for tenants. A fabric-first, whole-home approach is essential if Scotland is to avoid these costly missteps, reduce rates of fuel poverty, and truly support a just transition.

The plan is also light on delivery and does not fully account for the interconnected nature of the built environment. Housing supply, building safety, long-term maintenance, retrofit funding, the condition of the existing stock and the needs of island and rural communities cannot be treated in isolation. Policies developed in one portfolio have direct consequences in others. As I argued throughout the discussion Scotland needs a more joined-up approach, with clearer impact assessments across policy areas to ensure that progress in one portfolio or on one piece of legislation, does not hinder progress in others.

On skills, my message remains the same. Decarbonising Scotland’s built environment will not be possible unless we ensure the nation has a sufficient supply of people with the right skills to deliver it. The construction sector continues to face significant labour shortages, and CITB estimates that Scotland will need more than 5,000 additional workers each year between now and 2029 simply to meet demand.

Further, as I highlighted to the committee ALL building skills are green building skills. While the draft plan foregrounds the need for clean heating installers (which is unquestionably important) it does not consider the skills shortages facing the rest of the sector for equally critical roles. If we want safe, efficient, resilient buildings, we need the workforce to repair, maintain and retrofit them properly.

Despite some promising initiatives, Scotland still lacks a dedicated, Government-led Skills Action Plan for the construction and built environment sector. The Scottish Government’s response to CIOB’s previous calls for such a plan has fallen flat on delivering any Government-led action. Other industries, such as offshore wind, have seen targeted national planning and investment. Construction, by contrast, continues to grapple with fragmented funding, challenges with many of its apprenticeship pathways, and insufficient long-term clarity. Without demand- and need-led planning, resource, and action to address these issues and close the skills gap, the proposals in the Climate Change Plan will simply not be possible.

Scotland’s draft Climate Change Plan contains ambition, good intent, and recognises the scale of the challenge ahead. The construction industry shares that ambition. What we need now is a cross-portfolio, whole-of-government delivery plan that reflects the complexity of Scotland’s built environment, supports a whole-home approach to retrofit, and ensures the skills system is equipped to attract, train, and retain the people needed to deliver on the change the plan rightly seeks.