Regional Retrofit Cooperatives to delivery domestic retrofit

A call for not-for-profit community owned Retrofit Hubs to be established in every region across Scotland.

Transitioning our homes to zero emissions heating is a technically complex and socially challenging issue.
Existing homeowners struggle with a lack of support, lack of funding and lack of competent tradesmen to carry out these jobs.

A retrofit hub would provide Retrofit Assessment and Retrofit Coordination services, to directly support householders in making improvements to their homes. The coordination service will formulate a Retrofit Plan that the homeowners can afford, and check suitable contractors for their competency to carry out the installation. Retrofit installations will be evaluated afterwards to ensure they are carried out correctly, that there are no unintended consequences, and crucially that they deliver the promised energy savings in the 12 months that follow.

There are already examples of this service in England (see RetrofitWorks, or Carbon-Coop) and this business can be self-funding.

The hub would sit between homeowners, who receive the advice and coordination, and the contractors who would received business and retrofit training. This will in turn stimulate the supply chain and drive down cost through efficiencies of scale.

We are testing the feasibility of this idea is North East Scotland, please see
https://nesfit.org
for more information.

Why the contribution is important

The idea is important because most householders don't know who to turn to for getting energy efficiency measures installed, they need a trusted broker who can oversee the process and check that the work has been done correctly.

It is also important because energy efficiency measures are frequently installed by independent trades that cause disruption to previous work (i.e. the plumber making a mess of the loft insulation), so having a coordinator who will ensure trades work together will ensure good installations and better energy savings.

Many of our existing buildings need significant interventions, and measures which do not account for the complexities of moisture transport and air movement are likely to cause damage and unintended consequences.

Providing a service which is independent and accountable to local community owned membership will help increase trust, create local jobs and develop the skills and supply chain for retrofit.

by mattclubb on August 23, 2022 at 08:24PM

Current Rating

Average rating: 4.7
Based on: 24 votes

Comments

  • Posted by Kasurale August 26, 2022 at 13:43

    A recognised coordination hub would also allay fears of being taken advantage of by fraudsters and doorstep sellers by homeowners trying to 'do their part' in going green. It's very hard to identify legitimate tradesmen.

  • Posted by ErikDalhuijsen August 29, 2022 at 17:09

    Simply an essential idea: the only method proven to work for deeply decarbonising homes and buildings is the local cooperative, for many reasons of which trust is but one.

    Building a network of such cooperatives is essential to be able to even consider home and building decarbonisation at scale.

    While this network of cooperatives gets to work, they could be greatly helped by an independent coordinating organisation which then tackles the bigger region and nation-wide issues, could help government policies and finance initiatives match real world needs, and help ensure skills availability is made to match the hugely (more than 10-fold) growing need. In a similar vein, materials and equipment shortages could be foreseen and resolved before they trip up the whole decarbonisation exercise.

  • Posted by Rietteblue August 30, 2022 at 13:43

    A retrofit hub could provide a starting point for communities - home owners to become more sustainable and self efficient. Like the idea of something local - community based.

  • Posted by LauraBennitt August 31, 2022 at 07:02

    There is a project in Stockport training people in multiple trades such that they can complete a full retrofit, avoiding the issues mentioned in previous comments where various tradespeople overlap. Community-based training along these lines would also allow tradespeople to work in a variety of fields, reducing some of the challenges involved in finding tradespeople n rural areas. https://b4box.co.uk/

  • Posted by AngelaMLAnderson September 01, 2022 at 15:21

    This is a great idea. It could also be linked to good training schemes and skills transfer with a proper just transition.

  • Posted by ThursoCDT September 03, 2022 at 10:29

    There is opportunity for this very clearly in Highland area, there already exists a skills shortage in tradespeople to do this work and we are seeing depopulation throughout our communities. Regional Retro-fitting Hubs could see this work delivered by social enterprise and communities using the UHI training network and keeping both people and the wealth in our communities. By doing this at regional level as a social enterprise we could reach more homes, a sliding scale with those who can pay for retrofitting helping to subsidise those who own homes and cannot afford retrofitting.

  • Posted by carolynburch September 04, 2022 at 10:32

    This would achieve so many different things - jobs, homes where the temperature control and efficiency is maximised, better health, and a sense that we are really moving forward to a new system of safety.

  • Posted by RichardRaggett September 04, 2022 at 10:45

    I'm 100% in favour of this. It would improve Scotland's housing stock leading to reduced energy demand and improved health for us all. The community aspect would also play a role in building community resilience against the ever-increasing adverse climate impacts which we are facing over the next decade and beyond.
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