Community Health Impact Assessments (CHIAs) with the National Retrofit Hub

Introduction

Claire Brown from Turner & Townsend is joined by Sara Edmonds, Co-Director of the National Retrofit Hub, to explore the growing importance of community health in retrofit delivery.

The conversation focuses on Community Health Impact Assessments (CHIAs) and how they can help local authorities, housing providers and communities better understand the relationship between housing, neighbourhoods and health outcomes. Sara discusses why retrofit must move beyond technical upgrades alone and instead place greater emphasis on trust, lived experience and long-term community wellbeing.

The episode explores how issues such as damp, mould, fuel poverty, poor housing conditions and social isolation are deeply connected to the built environment. Sara shares practical examples from Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham, demonstrating how community led approaches can lead to more effective, trusted and sustainable retrofit programmes.

The discussion also highlights the work of the National Retrofit Hub in bringing together organisations, communities and industry partners to strengthen retrofit delivery across the UK, while providing practical tools and guidance for those delivering programmes on the ground.

For further information visit:

⁠Community Health impact Assessments in Retrofit⁠

⁠Health, Place, and Retrofit Report⁠

⁠Centric Lab’s Ecological Health learning programme