Domestic retrofit

To achieve the national and local ambition of becoming carbon neutral, emissions from buildings need to be reduced through improved energy efficiency. There is a government target for all buildings to be above an EPC C by 2035 and by 2030 for fuel poor households.

Local authorities have a responsibility to support the domestic transition to net zero and reduce the number of people experiencing fuel poverty. The Sustainable Warmth strategy committed billions of pounds (across available grant schemes) to support local authorities with this agenda.

The Midlands Net Zero Hub developed an approach to support regional retrofit and have a project team in place to support. The Hub received a total of £60.95 million of Government funding as part of Phase 2 of the Local Authority Delivery scheme.

We have also procured services to assist with the customer journey and implementation. The service supports local authorities within defined areas to providing a single point of contact and support for citizens. The service will check household eligibility, answer questions on the scheme and energy efficiency measures, as well as giving additional support to help tackle fuel poverty, income maximisation, for example.

To help enable regional delivery, we have set up two Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS) for local authorities to use to procure installers and professional services. A DPS is a method of buying commonly used goods, services, or works. It combines a pre-qualification process for suppliers, similar in effect to a ‘select’ or ‘approved’ list, with elements of electronic tendering, and it aims to streamline the procurement process, reducing the workload and making it more efficient for both buyers and suppliers. This DPS provides a route to access qualified consultants and contractors to assist them to delivering energy efficient retrofits projects covering a range of measure and technologies.

This approach has supported the region to access funding to assist thousands of fuel poor households and will be mirrored under Sustainable Warmth Competition, which the Midlands Net Zero Hub secured £82m of Government funding for the Local Authority Delivery Phase 3 and the Home Upgrade Grant Scheme.