Why Community Buildings Matter for National Security
Why Community Buildings Matter for National Security
As we find ourselves in increasingly unstable times, with turmoil in Iran and the Middle East and now entering the fourth year of the war in Ukraine, we are all being confronted with a stark reality: our security and energy infrastructure can no longer be taken for granted. These geopolitical shifts are not distant events; they shape the resilience of our homes, our communities, and the systems that keep everyday life functioning.
Over the past decade, the world has changed dramatically, and energy security has been repeatedly tested, exposing the fragility of international supply chains. Cyber attacks, once felt hypothetical, now have the ability to disrupt our daily routines within minutes.
These pressures sit alongside the increasingly visible effects of severe weather, from storms to freezing temperatures, which put further strain on the systems we depend on. Taken together, these trends force us to confront an uncomfortable truth: security is not a given. It requires ongoing effort at both national and local levels.
This leads to an important question: if something were to go wrong, what would we rely on? In the event of widespread power cuts, telecommunications failures, or severe weather, where would people turn first? Despite the emphasis we often place on national defence, emergency frameworks, and top-down crisis planning, the reality is that in moments of disruption, people instinctively look locally to the places, and organisations embedded in their community.
This is why we need to reconsider the role of the community sector in the UK’s resilience and security infrastructure. Community organisations are not only social assets; they are part of the backbone of local safety, wellbeing, and crisis response. When necessities become harder to access, local spaces become indispensable.
We can already see this in action across some of the UK’s most remote areas. In the Scottish Islands, community buildings have become essential during extreme weather, storms, and prolonged power cuts. These communities face unique challenges: harsh winters, high fuel costs, limited connectivity, and strained public infrastructure.
Yet their community hubs often become the warm, safe, and reliable places that anchor people through difficult periods. They offer a space for warmth, essential services, connectivity, and support. They also strengthen long-term energy resilience by hosting local low carbon heating solutions, or simply by being modernised, insulated community assets capable of staying open when households cannot.
These examples highlight a broader truth: while discussions about national security and preparedness often focus solely on macrolevel solutions, resilience is lived out locally. It is the warm hall, the staffed community centre, the building with a generator or a working heating system that becomes the lifeline.
We see the growing role of the community sector in the success of Warm Welcome Spaces across Britain too. But the sector is not currently equipped to provide safe sanctuary in the event of attacks on national energy infrastructure.
Many community buildings struggle with ageing infrastructure, rising energy bills, and a lack of access to capital.
SIB’s research shows that 7,300 crucial community buildings in England fail to meet basic energy efficiency standards, with many of the poorest performing buildings located in the most deprived areas.
In the North of England alone, around 60% of community buildings have an EPC rating of D or below, meaning they are cold, inefficient, and expensive to run.
These buildings could be the frontline of local security. They could be trusted spaces in crises, and essential gathering points in emergencies. Equipped with solar, heat pumps, battery storage and rainwater harvesting they could provide a local hub with heat, power and water for communities to gather, cook and take shelter in a crisis. Yet for too long they have been excluded from opportunities to access finance that could upgrade their heating systems, or modernise their facilities. If we continue to overlook our community buildings and allow them to fall into disrepair, who will we turn to when we’re in need?
The Warm Homes Fund provides an excellent and timely opportunity to address this. While the primary focus of the Fund is households, the government are committed to it also benefitting the community sector, unlocking energy independence and security for local communities.
As the UK Government encourages households to prepare for emergencies, it’s equally vital that we prepare and invest in the community spaces that will support them.
Community buildings have always been more than just local amenities, but now they must become part of our security infrastructure. It’s time we recognised, valued, and funded them accordingly.