This paper draws on work under way in the East Midlands area to understand what are the central requirements to undertaking ’eco-retrofit’ of the existing housing stock in order for this to make a meaningful contribution to national targets for efficiencies in energy and water usage, and for reductions in CO2 emissions. It notes that while there is a constant call for more action and attention to be given to the performance of existing housing stock, there is nevertheless wide-spread uncertainty as to what actions will bring about the most sustainable changes to building performances, and significant confusion as to what skills are required for such activities to be carried out. Recent work to ascertain the level of ‘eco-retrofit’ related activity that could be under way in the region has only been able to identify one-off ‘pilot projects’ to demonstrate the impact of changes to a few stock units, and there at present seem to be no medium to long-term plans for stock-holders in the public sector to prepare for an on-going engagement with energy and other utility efficiency programmes, and no equivalent ‘pilots’ in the private sector