Over one-third of Herefordshire’s greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to be from heating homes and other buildings. The role of retrofit will be important to decarbonise buildings across Herefordshire if we are to reach the county’s zero carbon target by 2030.
Background and rationale
Below are some personal thoughts regarding the development of a retrofit hub. These thoughts below have been developed over the last few months and taken from the LRAP briefings. Research is currently ongoing. The final decision has not been taken.
Over one-third of Herefordshire’s greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to be from heating homes and other buildings. The role of retrofit will be important to decarbonise buildings across Herefordshire if we are to reach the county’s zero carbon target by 2030. There is a role for Local Authorities to play in maximising the impact of private investment in Retrofit – through addressing barriers to information within the ‘Able to Pay’ market.
An options appraisal has been carried out a preferred option at the time of writing a preferred option is to stimulate demand across the able to pay market whilst applying targeted investment to accelerate the retrofit of fuel poor homes. This would create a ‘Retrofit Hub’ that would serve as a centralised source of information for the delivery of retrofit projects across the County.
The creation of a ‘Retrofit Hub.’ would offer a one stop shop for a residential homeowner to access information, knowledge and the local supply chain. The hub would coordinate and facilitate retrofit activity throughout Herefordshire. It would encourage and support private homeowners through the retrofit process whilst potentially also delivering targeted interventions to address the incidence of fuel poverty within the County and decarbonise some of the worst performing homes. Currently Herefordshire has an energy advice service that addresses fuel poverty.
A critical element of the Retrofit Hub will be to disseminate information to the Able to Pay market which can help to unlock private sources of finance for domestic retrofit and accelerate the uptake of decarbonisation measures by private homeowners. This dissemination would also help to support the fledging supply chain. The Retrofit Hub can play a role in accelerating the decarbonisation of the housing stock which is worst energy performing through targeted grant or subsidised funding of deep retrofit interventions.
Objectives of a retrofit hub
The specific objectives of this retrofit hub would lead to:
- a reduction in domestic GHG emissions within Herefordshire
- a reduction in the incidence of fuel poverty across the county
- an increase in the energy efficiency of the worst performing homes within Herefordshire
- an increase in the number of retrofit jobs within Herefordshire
- increased localisation of the retrofit supply chain within Herefordshire
- measurable increase in the demand for retrofit interventions within the domestic housing market, including the ‘able to pay’ sector
- increased enquiries and engagement with Herefordshire’s existing activities to promote and support retrofit activities.
Purpose of the retrofit hub
- To facilitate retrofit activity – being the first point of contact at the ‘orientation stage’, raising awareness of retrofit benefits and providing targeted advice through the provision of whole home surveys on the optimal retrofit strategy for homeowners. The hub would also play an important role in collating and maintaining a list of suppliers which in turn are supporting in retrofit training and;
- To coordinate retrofit activity – through coordination of existing retrofit suppliers including assisting with the generation of contractor quotes, client service agreements and ensuring that suppliers comply with their commitments.
The retrofit hub needs to be supported by:
Benefits of a hub
The retrofit hub would lead to:
- Reduction in Green House Gas (GHG) emissions - Facilitation and coordination of retrofit activities; Encourage and support private homeowners through the retrofit process; Reduce the financial barrier of retrofitting.
- Reduction in fuel poverty - Encourage and support private homeowners through the retrofit process; Capital investment for retrofit of domestic properties; Improve awareness of available interventions and the process of retrofitting.
- A centralised source of information for the delivery of retrofit projects across the County to utilise emerging innovative funding options and engage directly with the worst energy performing homes within the county.
- Improvement in energy performance rating - Capital investment for retrofit of domestic properties.
- Skills and local employment benefits-Make technical skills training more responsive to employers’ skills needs; Improve awareness of future investment opportunities.
- Revenue funding to support accreditation of the existing supply chain.
By upskilling the local supply chain, we will also be supporting the local economy by seeing money that is currently spent in the county going to national contractors instead remaining in the county with local suppliers. As the local supply chain and retrofit economy grows, we could see the situation change from net importers of low carbon skills and goods to a net exporter.
The extra installer capacity within Herefordshire will enable increased delivery of national grants within the county resulting in reductions of fuel poverty and carbon emissions. This in turn will stand Herefordshire in a better position to secure future funding.
By upskilling the local supply chain and increasing access to grants we will as a result decarbonise the local economy and create more green jobs.