Healthy Air Technology: Big Retrofit Challenge Winner 2026

One month on from Futurebuild 2026, Healthy Air Technology reflects on being named one of the six winners of the Big Retrofit Challenge and on the growing need to make indoor air quality part of retrofit.

Delivered by the National Home Decarbonisation Group (NHDG) in partnership with Futurebuild and Innovate UK, the Big Retrofit Challenge recognises innovations that can help improve the quality, performance, and scalability of retrofit across the UK. For HATL, the recognition marks an important step in bringing indoor air quality further into the retrofit conversation.

Why indoor air quality matters in retrofit

As homes become better insulated and more airtight, they can become more energy efficient. But retrofit also changes how buildings breathe. Without the right approach, indoor pollutants, moisture and CO2 can build up, creating risks for comfort, health and long-term building performance.

That was the challenge at the heart of HATL’s winning entry: how can we support healthier indoor air in retrofit homes without relying only on high-rate ventilation, disruptive installation or unnecessary heat loss?

HATL’s winning retrofit IAQ approach

At Futurebuild, HATL presented its Healthy Air Integrated Air Quality Retrofit System, a plug-and-play approach designed for homes and operational buildings where major ventilation upgrades may be difficult to deliver.

The system combines demand-led fresh air supply, in-room purification and app-based indoor air quality control. This means the system can support continuous purification while introducing outdoor air when CO2 levels indicate that fresh air is needed.

The approach brings together HEPA-13 filtration, HATL’s patented D-Orbital Nano Oxide (DNO) catalyst technology, smart controls and fresh air capability to respond to real indoor conditions.

Beyond the pitch: making innovation usable

The day at Futurebuild was not only an opportunity to pitch. HATL also joined the NHDG innovation roundtable, where Big Retrofit Challenge winners, NHDG members and industry representatives discussed the practical barriers that can prevent innovation moving from a promising pilot to real-world deployment.

The discussion highlighted familiar challenges across the retrofit sector: innovation can be lost during specification, design and procurement; organisations can be cautious about trying new approaches; and successful pilots do not always translate into scaled programmes.

The roundtable also pointed towards solutions. Participants discussed the need to frame innovation around resident outcomes, such as improved air quality and reduced damp; to bring new solutions into retrofit planning earlier; and to use monitoring and performance data to build confidence.

For HATL, this reinforced a central message: retrofit innovation has to work beyond the pitch stage. It must be understandable, deployable, measurable and maintainable in real homes.

Designing healthier, lower-carbon homes together

Winning the Big Retrofit Challenge gives HATL a valuable platform to continue conversations with housing providers, contractors, research partners and retrofit delivery teams.

The event showed that indoor air quality is becoming a more important part of the retrofit agenda. Energy efficiency remains essential, but the next generation of retrofit must also consider the air people breathe every day. HATL’s work sits at that intersection: energy-conscious air purification, demand-led fresh air supply, smart control and practical deployment in existing buildings.

We are grateful to the National Home Decarbonisation Group, Futurebuild, Innovate UK and everyone involved in the Big Retrofit Challenge for creating a constructive space for these conversations. We look forward to building on the momentum from Futurebuild and supporting retrofit programmes that deliver healthier, more sustainable and better-performing homes.