Last month, we were delighted to collaborate with our colleagues at the National Home Decarbonisation Group (NHDG) at an event with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). The session provided an opportunity to tackle one of the UK’s biggest challenges: accelerating retrofit delivery through an area-based, tailored approach.
The event was the first of many workshops with local leaders and industry champions that aim to shape discussion around the importance of delivering retrofit policies tailored to specific areas, building archetypes, and delivery models.
At the inaugural workshop, we were honoured to be joined by Selvin Brown, Director of Net Zero Buildings for the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero, alongside the NHDG’s Chief Executive Derek Horrocks. Our very own Dave Sowden also joined an insightful panel session, accompanied by Patrick Berry representing Together Housing Group, one of the leading social landlords in the North of England.
An Industry Led Approach
As part of the workshop, attendees – including manufacturers, installers, energy suppliers, contractors, GMCA colleagues and others – broke into groups to discuss how to implement effective retrofit policies tailored to the homes and buildings of Greater Manchester.
Learnings captured from this event will inform Greater Manchester’s retrofit strategy and can be used on a national level to help voice the importance of a locally led, tailored solution for decarbonising homes and buildings. We have summarised the outputs of the workshop session below.
Green Skills
Attracting young people to careers in the retrofit sector will be essential for building the skilled workforce needed to deliver future retrofit strategies.
Our attendees brainstormed the importance of changing perceptions of the retrofit industry to make this happen, tackling the stereotype of the industry being male dominated, and simplifying retrofit terminology. Demonstrating clear and broad career pathways were deemed as important, alongside providing adequate training and career progression opportunities.
We also asked attendees to discuss how recommendations on retrofit skills could be delivered locally, and responses to this ranged from creating long term career development programmes, increasing retrofit apprenticeships, and supporting local communities through place-based retrofit programmes.
Scalability and strategy
Colleagues broke off to discuss how to grow the retrofit market in both the public and private sectors. They discussed how devolved regions can align retrofit delivery with broader missions such as local growth and reducing health inequality, and how delivery models can be adapted to drive uptake and scale retrofit more effectively and efficiently.
Attendees realised the need to address wider inequalities by stressing the importance of retrofitting social homes as a priority. They discussed how these homes could be used as examples for other sectors, while uptake in the private sector could be encouraged by highlighting the financial and health benefits for consumers. One group suggested introducing a landlord rating system which considers property energy efficiency levels, encouraging more private landlords to invest in retrofit measures whilst attracting more prospective tenants.
It was highlighted that retrofit solutions can be scaled up by aligning the sector with broader local and national strategies. Recommendations involved simplifying government funding streams, improving policy design, combining budget pots, and encouraging a whole house approach to retrofit, to maximise economic, social and health benefits.
Specific advice offered to local authorities included offering one stop shop advice for consumers and installers, creating outcome-based subsidy models, and introducing innovative procurement models involving both contractors and suppliers.
Technology and innovation
Introducing strategies to retrofit that involve a whole house approach stresses the importance of a technology agnostic approach.
Some of our attendees echoed this, stressing that alternative choices can help to lower costs in property archetypes where traditional retrofit methods are expensive. Ensuring that every home has access to a survey to understand their specific requirements, was deemed as important to implementing an area based retrofit strategy. Additionally, other actions such as local authorities supporting innovators to access trials and pilots and taking inspiration from the Welsh Government’s ‘Test and Learn’ approach were deemed as important to support innovation.
Conversations surrounding innovation also touched on the Government’s funding framework, and how innovators are faced with barriers when accessing funding due to the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP). On a local level, funding frameworks could help to address this by being more flexible towards approved technologies, conducting vacant property trials, and by fast tracking local planning applications.
Additionally, it was noted that public consent and confidence in technologies is key to accelerating rollout of retrofit solutions. Attendees recognised this and brainstormed how initiatives such as test houses (e.g. the Salford Energy House) could be used to showcase new innovations, and the choices that are available to consumers. Better investment in education to build trust in innovative products, relating this to success stories and how retrofit solutions can reduce energy bills for consumers, can be an effective solution too.
Finance and investment
Finally, breakout groups discussed how to address the limited funding available for retrofit measures, and the relatively high upfront costs of some measures, especially in older, less efficient properties.
Solutions discussed included rewarding in-use performance and unlocking additional funding pots by stressing how retrofit measures can create health benefits that reduces pressure on the National Health Service. De-risking private investment in the technology was mentioned as a crucial aspect to unlocking additional funding, and this could be done through effective quality assurance and evidencing in-use impact for occupants and investors.
Local and combined authorities such as the GMCA could work with local lenders to help expand green mortgage offers, and funding models such as subscriptions and energy-as-a-service models could be explored on a wider basis.
Other incentives for consumers, including those linked to council tax and market incentives could help to increase affordability, alongside zero per cent loans similar to the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme.
We are already ahead of the curve in supporting local authorities and social housing providers to accelerate local retrofit strategies. Our recent Energy Efficiency Incentive provides a pathway to accelerating retrofit installations by rewarding in-use performance of energy efficiency measures, whilst providing long-term certainty for the market and ensuring high-quality installations.
We will continue to build on this success and are looking forward to hosting our second area-based retrofit event with the Greater London Authority later this year.