• PROJECT LEAD: Surrey County Council.
• FUNDING: £745,100.
• LOCATION: Surrey.

Targeting all Surrey residents, including harder-to-reach consumers and hard-to-treat buildings, the project will aim to overcome a range of barriers to retrofit, including lack of knowledge and access to trusted installers. Free home visits will be provided, with a one-stop-shop approach of supporting consumers throughout the retrofit journey. The Council’s Home Improvement Loan Scheme will be piloted alongside the project.

• PROJECT LEAD: Community Energy South.
• FUNDING: £941,249.
• LOCATION: Essex and Barcombe, East Sussex.
• DESCRIPTION: The project will create clusters of informed communities by connecting the parishes surrounding local market towns and develop an off-gas-grid market. Home action plans will be developed through a database covering both fabric and energy system upgrades.

• PROJECT LEAD: National Energy Foundation.
• FUNDING: £551,325.
• LOCATION: Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

Around 2000 homes will be provided with free retrofit plans through visits and follow up consultations. Project delivery will be supported by the engagement of local installers.

• PROJECT LEAD: Citizens Advice 1066.
• FUNDING: £185,880.
• LOCATION: Rural Rother district, East Sussex.

The project will provide support for fuel-poor and vulnerable households. Energy hubs will be set up in train stations and other community spaces to achieve outreach. Consumers will receive initial advice at the hubs, and can then access a free retrofit assessment, plus a follow-up visit and wider support.

• PROJECT LEAD: South-East London Community Energy.
• FUNDING: £1,187,222.
• LOCATION: Lambeth, Greenwich, Newham and Lewisham.

Reaching out to a wide range of hard-to-reach consumers and hard-to-treat homes, the project takes a community-centred approach to engagement, working with two community groups to reach whole neighbourhoods with in-person advice.

• PROJECT LEAD: Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.
• FUNDING: £197,085.
• LOCATION: Basingstoke and Deane, Hampshire.

The Council is creating a new team to provide in-person home energy advice and support. Vulnerable householders will be engaged by working with St Michael’s Hospice and Age UK. Hard-to-treat homes will be reached via energy clinics in parish and town councils.

Location: Bath and North East Somerset

Project name: Green Heritage Homes project

Increasing the rate of sensitive retrofitting of historic buildings by growing knowledge and confidence among householders and professionals. Enhanced content for retrofit assessments (including in relation to embodied carbon) will be shared through face-to-face advice, events, surgeries and specialist training for householders and professionals, in addition to engagement with landlords of listed building properties. A pre-application process to inform householders of options at the start of their retrofit journey will also be piloted.

Find out more:

Visit the project page on the BWCE website

Read a news story about the project

Location: West of England Combined Authority and North Somerset

Project name: Centre for Sustainable Energy – West of England

Supporting households in hard-to-treat properties with a focus on people with low awareness of retrofit or concern about costs, disruption, or detrimental impact on energy bills or building fabric. The project will create a practical and innovative community-led approach to engagement offering face-to-face advice through Green Open Homes events, visits to local properties with retrofit measures already installed and by providing opportunities to hear directly from the householder about benefits and installation process.

Find out more:

Visit the project page on the CSE website

Read a news story about the project

Location: Wiltshire Council and Swindon Council areas

Project name: Futureproof Wiltshire

Working with Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council, and with Rural Communities Energy Network to support homeowners across Wiltshire facing barriers to engage with retrofit. Targeting mainly off-gas and solid wall properties in the Wiltshire area and hard-to-reach households in Swindon, the project will support people in need of additional advice and financial support with free or subsidised in-person tailored advice on appropriate energy saving measures. Homeowners will receive help getting building works underway, from finding installers to identifying green finance options. Free retrofit advice training and support for community partners will encourage a community-based approach to engaging with homeowners.

Visit the project page on the CSE website

Location: Isle of Wight and Solent

Project name: Testlands Wellbeing Hub

Developing innovative methods of providing personalised and effective energy advice to diverse consumer groups. This project aims to bring an inclusive and people-centric approach to providing detailed help and advice to over 7,500 people to help them improve their homes and reduce bills. Tailored energy advice will empower householders to make informed decisions regarding the energy efficiency of their homes. The project will also help identify grants that people can apply for to carry out the work on their homes.

Location: Devon

Project name: PEC and partners in the Far South West Retrofit Consortium

Driving engagement with housing retrofit to improve energy efficiency resulting in lower bills, reduced emissions and improved occupant health and wellbeing. This project will focus on three population groups who are hard to reach or seldom reached by current advice provision – the digitally excluded, low-income households, and owners of traditionally built properties. Central to the project will be a focus on how best to conduct in-person retrofit advice visits to people’s homes, with high quality resources, advisor training, and follow on support services all contributing to the solution.

Find out more:

Read a news story about the project

Location: Gloucestershire

Project Name: Severn Wye

Offering in-person advice to more homeowners in Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire, often living in rural areas. The funding will also unlock an opportunity to work with landlords of households of multiple occupancy. Accredited Energy Assessors and Retrofit Coordinators will provide quality assurance to the advice provided and enable homeowners and landlords to make the right decisions for them and their homes. Working together with people to make homes more energy efficient and act on climate change.

Visit the project page on the Severn Wye website

Read a news story about the project

One of two projects focusing on harder to treat/ solid walled homes in councils designated conservation areas and the only project covering homes on traveller sites. The project will create strong partnerships (including with academics, planners etc.) to provide multi-disciplinary bespoke advice. It will also embed performance monitoring technology to monitor the impact of the retrofit work in each home. 

The Project aims to provide a package of PAS-compliant energy efficiency advice to aid homeowners of non-traditional construction solid walled properties bought from the council’s right to buy scheme on the same 8 council estates. The project will seek to enable the resident/ owner to be empowered to make informed retrofit decisions.

The project will target two main groups: older and lower-income private rented sector tenants, who often struggle to access government funding for the fuel poor; and older, asset-rich but cash-poor owner-occupiers. The project will deliver retrofit assessments and expand the number of home visits under their in-person “Green Doctor” service. They will ultimately identify the barriers to owner occupiers and landlords engaging in Retrofit Assessments and produce data on how this can be improved.

The project will coordinate in-person energy advice across the North East region which includes Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland.  The project aligns to the One Stop Shop for retrofit advice being developed for North of Tyne – signposting and/or providing retrofit assessments.  The project will pilot the use of QR codes to link to retrofit recommendation plans. The project will also provide retrofit awareness training to local community leaders/charities/service providers to support engagement with harder-to-reach residents.

A multi-site pilot that is sharing resources to overcome lack of confidence in retrofit and a lack of communication among installers. The pilot will build confidence between contractors by establishing a profession network and creating pride within the community by utilising trusted local players and spaces to meet residents with a goal encouraging a community effort. A retrofit bus will be used to reach consumers.

Activity will be focused in areas of West Yorkshire with a higher population of older people facing deprivation, older people who are able to pay or people with low proficiency in English. Engagement will focus on building relationships with communities in their spaces, utilising existing trusted relationships and creating valued community champions. Retrofit assessments will also be provided.

Project focusing particularly on the digitally excluded, those on low-incomes, and ethnic minority groups in West Yorkshire. Customers will receive a Net Zero Readiness Assessment, which will detail the measures that may be suitable for their home, but also the specific barriers to that consumer installing energy efficiency measures. This will enable energy advisors to highlight solutions to these barriers and provide a clear path to retrofit.

Funding Amount: £739,834.00
Location: Moss Side, Whalley Range, Levenshulme (Greater Manchester)
Project Name: Energise Manchester

Description:

Targeting hard-to-treat properties, with an emphasis on marginalised groups in South Manchester. Tailored solutions for the housing stock in the area, in particular emphasising solutions for terraces and solid-walled properties. Also using public health methodologies. The advice will be promoted through a network of community champions and provided at community hubs and local institutions, such as community gardens, schools, places of worship, and street markets.

Funding Amount: £392,498.99
Location: Cumbria
Project Name: Cold to Cosy Homes Cumbria

Description:

Targeting hard-to-reach consumers and hard to treat homes in rural Cumbria by offering in-depth home retrofit advice through a home visit or a Full Home Retrofit Planner audit. This will be promoted using light-touch advice stalls at community events, webinar-based retrofit trainings, and open homes events where people can see demonstrations of retrofit.

Funding Amount: £344,400
Location: Merseyside, Cheshire, and Warrington
Project Name: Retrofit Buddies

Description:

Targeting hard-to-reach consumers, including those without an EPC, using data from local authorities and referrals from the Integrated Care Board for Cheshire and Merseyside. A 1:1 system of ‘Retrofit Buddies’ will provide each consumer with a single point of contact. Consumers who receive advice will co-design a Personal Action Plan with their retrofit buddy who they will have regular contact with throughout any installation process. Advice will follow a ‘fabric first’ approach. As more consumers are reached, a library of materials and case studies will be developed to further promote the advice service.

Funding Amount: £1,935,291.00
Location: Greater Manchester
Project Name: DLEADP

Description:

A one-stop-shop service targeting hard-to-reach consumers and hard-to-treat homes, predominantly in an urban area. Building on GMCA’s existing work and working with local suppliers, this scheme will provide an end-to-end customer journey that engages consumers with initial advice through to home assessments and puts them in touch with trusted suppliers able to complete the work. Initial engagement will focus on building relationships with hard-to-reach local communities in their spaces. This will include drop-in advice services at community centres.

Funding Amount: £100,899.00
Location: Blackpool
Project Name: Blackpool Eco Hub

Description:

Supporting hard-to-reach consumers by being their single point of contact and providing them with a hand-holding experience from the beginning to the end of their journey (including throughout installation). Providing 1:1 energy advice at a retrofit hub, along with in-home energy advice, some retrofit assessments, support through installation journey and seeking customer feedback at the end of the journey.

Funding Amount: £211,280.85
Location: Warrington
Project Name: Domestic Energy Efficiency and Retrofit Advice for Landlords (DEERAL)

Description:

Specifically targeting private rented sector landlords and tenants using a unique approach to overcome the split incentive and encourage retrofit uptake in the private rental sector by conveying the long-term financial benefits of retrofit to the landlord. This will be delivered through in-depth discussions with landlords, showing them data and analysis, followed by in-person retrofit assessments.

Funding Amount: £550,400
Location: Rossendale Valley, Lancashire
Project name: Rossendale Valley LEAD

Description:

Targeting in-person engagement at community events and public stands in schools, GP surgeries, places of worship, supermarkets, and community centres will introduce people to energy efficiency advice as an effective tool to reducing energy bills whilst collecting data on house type and householder preference for engagement activity. Data from initial outreach will be collected on the Fairer Warmth app which is designed to identify where detailed in-person advice on retrofitting will be most impactful. Once these households have been identified, bespoke in-person advice and home visits will be organised which will lead to tailored retrofit solutions.

A group of charities came together to set up energy cafes and community events for hard-to-reach communities and hard-to-treat homes. They engaged with people in-person, being sensitive to aspects such as the choice of building, the tone of the speaker, and the availability of translators. They also trained volunteers and staff in energy awareness.

The council created an energy van that travelled to rural areas with a high proportion of hard-to-reach consumers to provide advice. Advisors gave demonstrations of how measures provided by government schemes could help reduce consumers’ energy use and improve the quality of their homes. The van provided a neutral ground to build trust with the community so that home visits could take place.

Leicester City Council built a team to provide tailored energy efficiency plans for households in fuel poverty. These plans showed how they could reduce their energy bills, lower their carbon emissions, and increase their comfort. This team provided follow-up advice to work through the plan and offer support where needed.

This project supported residents already engaged with health and housing services who were suffering from cold homes. Advice was delivered and promoted through community roadshows, home visits, and retrofit assessments.

This agency provided intensive support for hard-to-reach consumers who were eligible for government funding but who, for a variety of reasons, were not able to apply for this without support. Consumers were given access to a small number of trusted installers, and advisors walked them through the entire process. Further advice was offered to a wider audience via a mobile retrofit roadshow, training sessions, and webinars.

Targeting off-gas grid homes, homes in conservation areas, and poorly-performing homes. Advice will be provided through free workshops and webinars, as well as in-person retrofit surveys. Consumers will also have access to a network of trusted installers.

This council provided tailored energy advice to hard-to-reach consumers on low incomes. It created a specialised team of home energy advisors who went out into the community to provide advice. Advice also focused on adaptation measures for homes experiencing overheating.

Dispelling myths around heat pumps case study

This project targeted hard-to-reach consumers, particularly in rural areas, using a community outreach and education vehicle. Advice was provided in pop-up locations such as health, community, and religious centres, as well as food banks, where advisors were available to answer questions and arrange energy assessments where appropriate.

Watch the video case study

Using a school as a trusted venue to reach hard-to-treat properties and hard-to-reach people, the council offered advice and services through this venue in collaboration with existing partners and organizations. There was a particular emphasis on engaging with non-native English speakers about Victorian terraced houses.