What can the UK learn from The Hague - NHMF Study Tour
We're delighted to launch the NHMF Study Tour 2026 Report sharing key insights from three days of learning, discussion and site visits across The Hague, Netherlands.
Alongside housing associations, local authorities, policy leaders and industry experts, we explored some of the biggest challenges facing social housing today:
- Decarbonising homes at scale
- Delivering retrofit programmes that prioritise resident health
- Addressing damp and mould as a housing quality issue, not a tenant behaviour issue
- Funding affordable housing and net-zero ambitions in challenging economic conditions
- Balancing housing supply, infrastructure constraints and energy transition
- Embedding resident engagement and co-design into regeneration projects
Key findings include:
- The UK and Netherlands are tackling remarkably similar challenges around affordability, decarbonisation, ageing housing stock and infrastructure capacity.
- The Dutch model benefits from long-term planning frameworks, strong municipal coordination and closer integration between housing, energy and infrastructure strategies.
- Retrofit is viewed as an enabler of wider energy-system transformation rather than an end goal in itself.
- Resident voices are integrated much earlier in project development, with co-design often shaping programmes before delivery plans are finalised.
- Successful housing improvement programmes are increasingly being measured not only by energy performance, but by whether homes are healthy, safe, dry, affordable and comfortable.
Perhaps the most important lesson?
No country has yet fully solved the challenge of delivering net zero housing at scale. The value lies in sharing experiences, testing new approaches and learning from one another.
A huge thank you to everyone who helped make this happen including: Aedes, Tim Wolters Alfred van 't Hof, wonen.nl, Boris Minkes, Wies Ettema, Leontine Diemel-Tromp, Municipality of The Hague, Tim Jacobs, Marijn van Haaster, Will Routh, Alice Pittini, Dr Eve Blezard FHEA CIHCM, Kaie Small-Warner, Kunal Karadia, BRE, Joost Nieuwenhuijzen, European Federation for Living (EFL), Housing Europe, M3, Tessa Barraclough, Julian Ransom, Andrew Burke, Ben Virgo, Effie Matthaiou, Phil Pemberton, Lindsay Parker and all delegates who contributed to the discussions and this report. Your openness and willingness to share both successes and challenges made the visit invaluable.
The Dutch approach isn't a blueprint, but it offers valuable lessons for the UK's housing future.
Download the full NHMF Study Tour 2026 Report here!
