Upgrading existing homes is the fastest way to cut carbon, ease the housing crisis and unlock stalled value, but most capital is chasing new build. In this Thrive in Construction episode, investor and Green Resi co-founder Anne Harper explains how smarter money, data and policy can shift the dial.
“We have around one and a half million empty or underused homes in the UK – and we keep talking as if the only answer is to build more.” — Anne Harper
The homes we need already exist, the challenge is who owns them, how they’re financed and how quickly we’re upgrading existing homes to modern, low-carbon standards. Anne walks through the journey from small-scale landlord to institutional investor partner, showing why incremental tweaks won’t solve a systemic supply and sustainability problem.
From 1997 to the mid-2010s, easy credit and rising prices made small-scale buy-to-let look like a one-way bet. Section 24 tax changes, higher stamp duty and tighter lending have since pushed the sector towards professionalisation. That’s painful for casual landlords, but it clears the way for experts who treat upgrading existing homes as a core business, not a side hustle.
Because every pound of misdirected capital slows both. When policy fixates on headline-grabbing new build targets, it misses the quieter opportunity in upgrading existing homes: cutting operational carbon, re-using embodied carbon and bringing empty or underused stock back into meaningful use. Anne argues that the investors who lean into this now will be best placed when regulation tightens.
Anne’s experience at Deloitte, in development, then in proptech led to Green Resi – a business built on process, data and software. Much of sourcing and screening is repeatable work: location filters, yield thresholds, repair allowances, risk scoring. Codifying these steps turns upgrading existing homes from a slow, manual hunt into an institutional-grade pipeline that pension funds and housing providers can actually deploy capital into.
At one end, you have landlords and housing associations who own ageing stock but lack the cash, skills or bandwidth to upgrade it. At the other, you have long-term investors hungry for stable income and impact, but unable to work with assets “only” worth £250k–£300k each. Bridging that gap unlocks capital for upgrading existing homes at scale, with better standards and clearer accountability.
Map where your current or target stock sits on the spectrum from new build to deep retrofit – and ring-fence a pilot for upgrading existing homes instead of defaulting to demolition.
Treat data as infrastructure. If you don’t know lifecycle repair costs, energy performance and occupancy patterns, you’re guessing – and you can’t make a robust case for improvement to your board or investors.
Test tech on a defined slice of the portfolio first, then scale. The aim isn’t shiny tools; it’s simpler, faster decisions about where to focus retrofit effort with fewer surprises in delivery.
Build relationships with local owners and operators, not just national housebuilders. Many of the best opportunities sit with smaller players who are ready to exit but don’t know who to sell to.
This is the kind of work we support at Darren Evans Ltd. From fabric-first strategies and whole-life carbon analysis to sequencing and value engineering, we help clients turn complex decisions about upgrading existing homes into practical, commercially robust plans. If this resonates with your challenges, let’s talk.
Because the maths doesn’t care about slogans. Roughly 80% of the homes people will live in by 2050 are already standing. Ignoring upgrading existing homes means chasing marginal gains on a small slice of stock while missing huge, faster wins in comfort, carbon and cost.
Anne’s three lenses help: risk-reward, effort-reward and opportunity cost. Compare a long, uncertain new-build journey with a structured programme of upgrading existing homes: shorter lead-times, lower planning risk, immediate social impact and a clear line of sight to net-zero objectives. Frame the choice that way and the numbers usually follow.
We sit where performance, policy and pragmatism meet. Whether you’re a developer, housing association or fund manager, we can help you prioritise which assets are best suited to upgrading existing homes, model the carbon and cost pathways, and support your teams through design, procurement and delivery.
In a market obsessed with shiny new build announcements, the real leadership will come from those willing to do the quieter, more disciplined work of upgrading existing homes – for people, for places and for the planet.
