Accelerator Cities
Added
April 27, 2020
Tags
Policy & Advocacy, Membership & Networks
Share
In 2019, UKGBC led a ‘Pathfinder’ project for Accelerator Cities, which partnered with five cities and consulted with dozens more, to analyse what support cities and local authorities need to galvanise greater action on low carbon home retrofit.
Why focus on locally-led retrofit?
Radically reducing carbon emissions associated with the energy used in the existing housing stock is one of the single biggest challenges facing the nation in terms of making the transition to a net zero carbon economy.It is our strong belief that central government is not going to be able to ‘solve’ home retrofit alone, by delivering it through a wholly top-down approach.
Local authorities and Combined Authorities are critical to the delivery of home retrofit due their knowledge of the local housing stock, areas and priorities and their ability to coordinate action on the ground. Their status as a ‘trusted player’ gives the public reassurance and enables them to act as a good broker between the industry and householders, giving the programme oversight and legitimacy.
UKGBC’s 2019 Pathfinder project demonstrated that support is needed to co-ordinate the actions of local government to maximise efficiency and enable a comprehensive, holistic and collaborative approach at the city level.
Our plans for 2022-3
For 2022-23 we would like to grow our capacity and scale up reach and impact. The programme will continue to focus on supporting local authorities to overcome the barriers to action. Ongoing work will include:
- Research & production of key resources – including ongoing updating of Retrofit Playbook
- Digital communications & network building – including online mapping of policies & programmes and the setting up of a Local Authority Retrofit Forum
- Direct engagement with key stakeholder groups – e.g. finance sector, supply chain etc
- Central Government advocacy
- Demonstrators – supporting exemplar projects, and extracting lessons learned for wider benefit of others
What the programme has delivered so far
Outputs
A housing market catalyst to drive carbon emission reductions – A resource setting out UKGBC’s detailed proposals for a stamp duty incentive to help build a market for home energy improvements.
The Retrofit Playbook – A resource to support local and combined authorities in developing retrofit policies and initiatives, through sharing best practice and guidance.
Interactive Policy Map – An interactive map highlighting leading examples of domestic retrofit policies and initiatives from local and combined authorities across the UK.
Understanding how to motivate whole-house retrofit – In-depth consumer research into the motivations behind improving the energy efficiency of our homes. The research involved in-depth interviews in December 2020 and explored the experiences of 10 homeowners across England who were either considering or had already undertaken measures to improve energy efficiency.
Driving retrofit at scale: funding opportunities for local government – A report exploring discussions and ideas around the role of local authorities in delivering and enabling retrofit finance to all tenures.
Video resources
Retrofit Playbook in Practice: North presentation
Retrofit Playbook in Practice: Midlands presentation
Retrofit Playbook in Practice: London and South East presentation
Retrofit Playbook in Practice: South West
You can see comments on the Retrofit Playbook from the regional workshops here.
Further resources
The Retrofit Academy’s Local Authority PAS 2035 Toolkit can be downloaded here.
Retrofit Academy – PAS 2035: The Movie
Get Involved
We are seeking a range of complementary private sector, public sector and philanthropic funding partners to support the programme in 2022-23 – get in touch with joanne.wheeler@ukgbc.org for more information.
We are asking local authorities to tell us about policies and programmes in your authority that are either in place, or in development by completing this short form.
Receive direct email updates on the Accelerator Cities programme – sign up here.
For further information or to get involved please contact joanne.wheeler@ukgbc.org.
We are also working together with Hope for the Future to facilitate and support engagement between constituents and community groups with their local MPs and councillors on home retrofit, including through sharing the relevant findings of the Programme. For more information, and if you’re interested in accessing support to work with your own MP on home retrofit, click here
