Home Improvement News: Solar Up 14%, Heat Pumps Down 17%

A busy fortnight for anyone weighing up a roof, a solar array or a heat pump. Half-year installation figures show where homeowners are actually spending, roofers were told to design for a hotter, wetter country, and the national planning rulebook was replaced. Here is what landed and what it changes.

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Solar and batteries surged in the first half, heat pumps went backwards

Figures from MCS, the certification body for small-scale renewables, covering January to June 2026 were reported on 20 August. There were 210,000 certified installations in the six months, roughly one every 74 seconds, and 17% more than the previous record start to a year in 2025.

Almost 150,000 of those were solar panels, up 14% year on year. Battery storage reached 36,000 installations, close to double the first half of 2025. Heat pumps went the other way, down 17% on the same period last year. MCS also noted that one in three installations in 2026 either went onto a home that already had a certified renewable, or combined more than one technology.

What it means if you are planning work: the market has swung towards panels plus a battery rather than a heat pump, and increasingly towards adding to an existing system. If you are having roof work done anyway, that is the cheapest moment to decide about panels, because the scaffold and the roofer are already there.

Source: Roofing Today, 20 August 2026.

Roofers told to build for the climate of the 2050s

The National Federation of Roofing Contractors published “Future (P)roof: Five Years On” on 13 August 2026, revisiting research the NFRC Charitable Trust commissioned from the University of Southampton in 2021. That work flagged overheating and flooding as the two big climate risks to buildings.

Gary Walpole, the NFRC’s technical, safety, health and environment officer, put the case simply: “The climate that roofs need to perform in is changing”, and a roof laid or significantly refurbished today “could still be in place in the 2050s”. The federation wants climate resilience treated as standard in roof design, refurbishment and maintenance.

The useful part for a homeowner is what the NFRC says it does not require. This is not about expensive new products. It is good design, drainage sized properly, adequate ventilation, and actual inspection and maintenance.

What it means if you are planning work: when you compare roofing quotes, ask specifically about gutter and downpipe capacity and about ventilation, not just tiles and felt. Those are the details that decide whether a roof copes with a cloudburst in fifteen years.

Source: NFRC via Specification Online, 13 August 2026.

A new National Planning Policy Framework took effect on 17 August

The government published a new National Planning Policy Framework on 17 August 2026. Its policies are a material consideration in planning decisions from the day of publication, so this is live now rather than something scheduled.

Two headline changes. Housing within reasonable walking distance of well-connected railway, tram and Underground stations gets a default “yes”, with minimum expectations for how much housing should come forward in those areas, and in some cases that includes green belt land. Pubs also gained stronger protection: a developer must now show there is “no reasonable prospect of a pub remaining viable” before converting one to homes, offices or shops.

What it means in Kent: a county built around commuter lines is squarely in scope of the station-led policy, so expect more applications near the main stations. Note what has not changed: this is national planning policy, and it does not alter householder permitted development rights for extensions or outbuildings, which sit in separate regulations.

Sources: National Planning Policy Framework, GOV.UK and MHCLG in the Media, 17 August 2026.

Home Improvement News: Solar Up 14%, Heat Pumps Down 17%

Solar and batteries surged in the first half, heat pumps went backwards

Roofers told to build for the climate of the 2050s

A new National Planning Policy Framework took effect on 17 August

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