Project Summary
Cotswold District Council, Forest of Dean District Council and Cheltenham Borough Council formed a consortium to pilot a range of retrofit engagement approaches, not previously trialled in Gloucestershire.
Background
Each council recruited a Retrofit Engagement Officer to carry out work in the region which included:
- Three large scale engagement events – Cheltenham’s Future Fit Homes Retrofit Show, Cotswold’s Drive and Thrive event, and Forest of Dean’s Warm Homes for Winter showcase
- Over a dozen smaller (parish-level) roadshow and engagement events
- Retrofit Engagement Officer home visits and advice service
- Mobile heat pump demonstrations over six days/events
- Work to develop the county’s first rural micro heat network.
- Development and delivery of a new thermal imaging camera loan scheme through community hubs
- First trial of a ‘green open home’ project in Gloucestershire
These initiatives saw thousands of individual engagements with residents. 88 residents committed to installations within the lifetime of the project (with more potentially taking up installations after the project’s conclusion) cumulatively saving just under 170 tonnes of CO2 per annum.
Our Role
The roles were part-funded by the South West Net Zero Hub through our Local Net Zero Fund. The Hub also shared learnings from the Local Energy Advice Demonstrator (LEAD) programme which focussed on community retrofit, and facilitated cross-learnings with other similar local authority programmes.
Results
Home visits carried out by the Cotswold and Cheltenham Retrofit Engagement Officers have been successful, receiving a high degree of resident satisfaction in follow-up surveying. Some key stats include:
- Cotswold residents rated the experience an average of 4.81 out of 5 and 100% of residents agreed that the home visit supported a greater understanding of their home and how to improve energy efficiency.
- In Cheltenham 100% of recipients were happy with the Engagement Officer service, and 95% felt it helped them develop a greater understanding of their home and how to improve energy efficiency.
The mobile heat pump demos proved a popular and innovative engagement tool, attracting interest from other national stakeholders such as the MCS Foundation and the UK Green Building Council’s national Local Authority Retrofit Forum.
The thermal imaging camera loan scheme has proved a popular engagement tool, and the scheme has been an effective gateway to promote other county-wide services and grant options, as observed in the follow up activity with engaged residents.
In all three Districts, the Retrofit Engagement Officers (REOs) formed deeper community relationships and engagement with local community organisations, charities and parishes. These more effective collaborative relationships will benefit both local communities, and council aims going forward, in terms of climate action. One example is better utilisation and connection with local libraries, which became “hubs” for the thermal imaging camera loan scheme. This scheme also forged relationships with local schools, being used as a tool for pupils to discuss understand energy efficiency in the context of their school and homes, and how the energy used at home contributes to emissions.
Beyond general retrofit advice, the Retrofit Engagement Officers found that they were able to offer support to residents who have had long term worries about the condition of their older traditional homes. Many residents appreciated seeking advice on insulation, damp and general condition of properties and have found this a real benefit, before any further retrofit work has proceeded.
Challenges
Funding period
The lead-in time and scope of this project was affected by the tight funding window which necessitated a 12-month initial project. The lack of longer-term funding for retrofit engagement remains a challenge for local authorities. For now, significant future work will likely rely on obtaining further external funding, though councils remain committed to supporting the Gloucestershire energy efficiency platform, and as much ancillary work around this as possible. The project team was aware of this risk from the outset and helped to mitigate by ensuring that the Retrofit Engagement Officers were swiftly inducted and engagement plans moved at pace.
Financial resources
The lack of residents’ financial resources to address their properties’ problems is clear. The perceived ‘able-to-pay’ sector isn’t realistically able-to-pay in many cases, and many residents don’t know if they are eligible for government grant support (believing that grants are linked to benefits). The lack of available finances and fear of costs was seen across districts. This is exemplified in Forest of Dean’s camera scheme which saw a surprising outcome – with some residents preferring not to learn about heat loss, as it would be another issue they would have to face. Going forward, this may be overcome through exploration of retrofit finance and loan schemes for residents.
Seasonality of activity
It was observed that for key activities, such as Cotswold’s Retrofit Road Show, interest and engagement was hard to maintain outside of Autumn/Winter when residents are more primed to consider energy efficiency. Given the year-long nature of this programme it was therefore challenging to ensure high participation at other times of the year. Going forward, activities will be planned to peak in Autumn/Winter to overcome this.
Awareness
Retrofit is still an area that has low awareness for many, and can cause confusion. Many residents aren’t aware of the grants potentially available to them, or the actions and solutions that could be considered to improve their home’s energy efficiency. Many residents do not know where to seek advice and which contractors to trust for carrying out works which leads to further inaction. This is partially addressed by Gloucestershire’s new energy efficiency platform with Furbnow.
Next Steps
Forest of Dean and Cotswold District Councils have retained their REOs for an additional year and are continuing their engagement work. They plan to expand the heat pump demos and an expansion of the green open home events is being considered. A series of demo events has taken place across the wider county and work is underway to create a Gloucestershire green open buildings network, taking the learning from the events to create a community buildings network to showcase measures.
A new series of roadshows has been programmed for Cotswold District Council and work continues to progress feasibility of the rural heat network in the Forest of Dean. Gloucestershire councils remain committed to progressing learnings and approaches developed under the project and our currently seeking further funding for an expansion of this work.
Additional resources on community-led retrofit engagement are available here LEAD toolkits.