On 23rd May we co-hosted an event in collaboration with Wrapt Homes and Climate Action Leeds as part of the UKReiif conference fringe event series. The event was about Yorkshire based retrofit initiatives.
It is part of a series of events looking at the challenges of retrofitting owner-occupied housing. This sector dominates around 65% of the UK housing stock and its decarbonisation will depend on the decisions of 15 million individual householders.
Across the country local initiatives are taking the lead in addressing these challenges. We’re bringing together a panel of experts to share bold initiatives taking place in Yorkshire, showcasing what is currently being done to support homeowners decarbonise their homes.
We had talks from three brilliant speakers:
Noel Collings – Head of Net Zero & Energy, West Yorkshire Combined Authority. Who spoke about the new West Yorkshire Retrofit Programme with the vision that ‘Everyone in West Yorkshire can live in a warm, comfortable and low carbon home’
Ongoing & Proposed Activity includes:
- One Stop Shop development and launch
- Leeds Building Society Secondment investigating the ‘art of the
possible’ on financing retrofit. - Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.
- Area Based Schemes (1 per district).
- Local Energy Advice Demonstrator.
- Low Interest Retrofit Loan.
- Domestic Solar Collective Buying.
- Social Housing Solar PV & Battery Storage installations.
Andy Boyle – Founder Otley Energy who spoke about the Leeds Retrofit Accelerator, A collaborative, community-based, and people-first approach.
Looking at the process of change and needing the Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation for change. Which is the model that Otley is working on. The need to amplify the benefits and overcome the barriers to retrofit.
Lucy Allis – Local Authorities Climate Action Coordinator, York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority
Lucy spoke about the York and North Yorkshire retrofit model. The transition the Carbon negative, delivering good economic growth and increased opportunities for all.
Retrofit One-Stop-Shop for York (ROSSY)
To create an end-to-end, digital, home energy retrofit platform that
will provide the following components:
- Customer and Supplier Retrofit Education and Empowerment
- Demonstrator Homes and Monitoring
- Home Energy Assessments, Community Champions and Advisors
- A Recommended Supplier Network
- Referrals to Grant-Funded Schemes & CYC-Specific Financing Solutions
- A Monitoring, Evaluation, Aftercare and Feedback Service
- Replication of the Business Model for use by other Authorities
- Scale-up and Investment
It was a really posistive event which highlighted the great work going on the in the region and the benefit of collaborative work.
