Don’t Waste Buildings Campaign
Action on Empty Homes supports this cross-sector campaign dedicated to building retrofit and re-use across both residential and commercial sectors
Don’t Waste Buildings is the voluntary effort to spotlight up-front, or embodied, carbon
The campaign makes the case for productive use of empty and underperforming buildings
These buildings, all over the UK, and globally, are untapped economic and social assets, not structures to be casually discarded. They could be utilised to deliver much-needed housing and development at greater speed, lower cost and with less of an impact on our environment.
The group was founded in December 2022 and is non-party political, run by a collection of individuals made up of leading property developers, financiers, architects, engineers, heritage experts, and others.
Singing from our ‘hymn sheet’
The group The ‘Hymn Sheet’ outlines the campaign’s key ‘asks’ of policymakers and regulators.
Don’t Waste Building is a voluntary group, with no funding, membership fees or commercial interests of any kind. This allows the campaign to maintain independence and to focus on achieving its key objectives:
Policy clarity and financial incentives to make the reuse of existing buildings simpler and more profitable in order to stimulate growth in the housing and development sector.
Members and regional activity
The campaign has over 2,500 members (as of 2026) who join via a LinkedIn group. Membership is free and voluntary.
In the UK there are regional ‘Chapters’ - these can be found in London, the East, South West, West Midlands, North West, Cumbria, Yorkshire & Humber and Scotland.
Publications
In addition to the ‘hymn sheet’ setting out shared ‘first principles’ the group has produced some useful and crotiocally accalimed recent publications aimed at national and local policymakers.
The ‘Reuse Dividend’ report (link below) includes a case study on Ireland’s national empty homes programme, alongside an evaluation of how various reuse and retrofit-oriented policies impact growth and economic activity positively around the world.
Latest Reports
The Reuse Policy Playbook:
A Retrofit-First Guide for Local Authorities (2026)
The Reuse Dividend:
Unlocking Economic Growth from Britain’s Existing Buildings (2026)