Which areas of Solihull have the best EPC ratings?
Modern estates at Hillfield, Monkspath and Cheswick Green score best, followed by the inter-war suburbs at Olton, Shirley and Lode Heath. The Victorian town centre, Hampton-in-Arden and the outer villages score lowest, because solid walls cannot take cavity insulation and many village properties are off the mains gas grid.
- Ratings track the age of the housing, not the value of it.
- Post-war estates at Kingshurst, Fordbridge and Barston turn on the heating system.
- Conservation-area status often rules out the highest-impact measure.
- Every one of the 33 areas has its own local EPC page.
EPC ratings across Solihull track the age of the housing far more closely than the value of it. Some of the most expensive property in the borough scores worst, and some of the least expensive scores best. This is the borough-wide picture, and what it means if you own or let here.
Modern housing — the strongest performers
Olton, Hillfield, Monkspath, Tidbury Green and the newer parts of Solihull Town Centre were built to a decent fabric standard, so they tend to sit at C or high D. The missing points are usually in heating controls, hot water and lighting — cheap to fix, and often enough on their own.
Inter-war housing — the best value to improve
Meriden, Fordbridge, Berkswell, Barston, Majors Green and Majors Green are dominated by 1930s semis with unfilled cavities. That sounds like a problem and is actually an opportunity: cavity fill plus a loft top-up is cheap and routinely moves a property a full band. If you own a rental here, this is the easiest compliance story in the borough.
Post-war estates — it turns on the heating
Castle Bromwich, Olton, Olton and Smith contain a lot of 1960s construction, some of it non-traditional, and a meaningful proportion is all-electric. Where a property has panel or old storage heating, the heating system is the rating — fabric measures alone will not get it to C. Assessor experience matters here too, because system-built construction has to be recorded correctly or the result is wrong in both directions.
Victorian property — the hard cases
Solihull Town Centre, Solihull Town Centre, Tidbury Green, Tidbury Green, Solihull Town Centre and Fordbridge have the borough’s most attractive housing and its lowest ratings. There is no cavity to fill, original windows often cannot be replaced, and a number of properties sit off the mains gas grid on oil or LPG, which the calculation penalises heavily. Loft, draught-proofing and controls first; anything structural only after checking what consents allow.
What this means for landlords
The 2030 band C requirement will land very unevenly across Solihull. A landlord with inter-war semis in Meriden has a cheap, well-understood route. A landlord with all-electric flats in the north of the borough has a heating problem to solve. A landlord with a solid-walled cottage in the outer villages may be looking at the cost cap. Knowing which category you are in is the whole of the planning.
Find your area
Every one of the 33 Solihull areas has its own EPC page with local detail — see the full list on our coverage page. For a costed improvement plan, see MEES consultancy, or book a domestic EPC.
Looking for your own area? We have local EPC guides for Meriden, Fordbridge, Solihull Town Centre, Majors Green, Solihull city centre, Castle Bromwich, Majors Green, Solihull Town Centre and every other Solihull area.
