Scottish Housing Day: Healthy Homes, Healthy Futures

As part of Scottish Housing Day 2026, Aberdeenshire Council’s housing service explains the work being undertaken to keep older granite homes healthy, warm, comfortable and affordable.

This year’s Scottish Housing Day theme focuses on the relationship between housing and health. For Aberdeenshire Council, that connection is central to our work improving older granite properties through internal wall insulation and other measures that help homes use less energy. The aim is practical and straightforward: to make homes healthy, warm, affordable, better ventilated and comfortable.

Aberdeenshire’s granite homes are a valued part of our towns and villages. They are strong, familiar and full of character, but many were built before modern standards for insulation, heating and ventilation.

Not every uninsulated property will cause problems, and not every tenant will be affected in the same way. However, in some homes, colder rooms, draughts, condensation or higher heating demand can affect comfort and place additional pressure on households.Where dampness, poor temperature control or existing health conditions are present, improving warmth and ventilation can make a meaningful difference to day-to-day living. Through our Granite Homes Towards Net Zero programme, we are improving these properties in a planned and practical way.

Since 2018, Aberdeenshire Council has upgraded more than 700 stone-built homes. Internal wall insulation is a key part of this work, as it allows improvements to be made while helping to protect the traditional appearance of granite buildings. It is not delivered in isolation, however. Depending on the property, works can also include underfloor and loft insulation, triple-glazed windows, insulated doors, more efficient storage heaters, solar panels and improved ventilation.

Warmth, moisture and ventilation are closely connected. In homes where cold spots, condensation or poor airflow are an issue, better insulation and effective ventilation can help support a more stable and comfortable internal environment.

The upgrades help reduce the risk of condensation and mould developing, while also helping homes manage moisture and remove stale air. Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery helps extract humid air while bringing fresh filtered air into the home, providing improved air quality for tenants while helping reduce fuel bills.

The improvements were particularly important for one tenant who had recently moved into an upgraded granite home after previously living in a similar oil-heated granite property. They tenant explained: “In my previous home, I had been using three inhalers and had experienced several serious chest infections.” They added that since moving: “I’ve only rarely used my inhaler, I’m not waking up coughing, and I’m not waking with a tight chest.”

Providing clear evidence of how improvements to warmth, draughtproofing, ventilation and temperature stability can improve quality of life. The same tenant also described a noticeable change in comfort, saying: “The temperature has stayed steady, and I’ve still not needed to switch the heating on.”

Giving a clear lived experience of the comfort benefits that can follow retrofit works. Affordability also affects health and wellbeing. When a home needs less energy to stay warm, tenants are better placed to manage their heating costs and household budgets. For households facing wider cost-of-living pressures, reducing heating demand can make it easier to prioritise other essentials and reduce some of the stress linked to cold homes and high energy use.

The programme also has wider community benefits. By building a specialist in-house insulation team and working with local contractors and suppliers, we are developing retrofit skills in Aberdeenshire, supporting apprenticeships and keeping more of the investment within local communities. This matters because the move towards net zero should improve homes while also building local capacity and supporting the people who deliver the work.

Scottish Housing Day is a useful opportunity to recognise that housing is not only about buildings or energy ratings. It is about whether people can live in homes that are warm, safe, affordable and suited to their needs. Through this retrofit work, Aberdeenshire Council is helping to protect the character of traditional granite homes while making them healthy, warm, comfortable and affordable.

For more information about Aberdeenshire Council’s housing services, visit: www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/housing