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How can we act on the need to adapt existing properties to address the impacts of climate change – and plan for new stock resilient to these impacts? Are we integrating sustainability and resilience into our energy plans?
LGA resources
Following our Regional Retrofit Action Plan training (below), councils have shared their learnings and outputs to showcase what action planning looks like in their area.
In December 2022 we hosted a webinar on Regional Retrofit Action Planning to provide delegates with the opportunity to hear how they might be able to increase the energy efficiency of a property through retrofit. Over 130 delegates heard from representatives at Southampton City Council, Sustainability West Midlands and Beattie Passivhaus.
Regional Retrofit Action Planning Webinar Blog
You can find out more about our work on Regional Retrofit Action Planning, including case studies and resources, on our dedicated webpage.
Over six months in 2021 and 2022, 24 officers and councillors from Local Authorities across England were invited to explore, unpick and address the challenges of retrofitting domestic properties. The focus was on developing the skills required inside and outside the councils to manage and implement retrofit programmes, including co-ordinating internal and external stakeholders, generating demand from householders, and upskilling suppliers.
Councils can discover what was learnt through an executive summary of the programme, a map of the challenges and council case studies.
LGA Building Housing Retrofit Skills Leadership And Learning Programme, March 2022
This webinar was organised as part of the LGA’s green webinar series and shared good practice around retrofit.
Michael Veasey from Essex County Council talked about the Essex Sector Development Strategy, Richard Bubb from the Sustainable Housing Action Partnership gave a presentation on their Action Learning Set programme, and Ian Fitzpatrick from Lewes District and Eastbourne Borough Councils discussed financing around retrofit.
Below is a link to a summary of the presentations at the event.
Blog: Building Housing Retrofit Skills webinar, 12 July 2022
This webinar shared a number of good practice examples from experts and councils who are creating local green jobs and skills in the area of housing retrofit. In this session, we heard about support offers, local research, experiences and valued perspectives on local climate action in the very important area of housing retrofit.
The Retrofit Academy explained their role and mission to shape retrofit best practice, share their technical expertise with industry peers, and advance the sector through their Centre of Excellence, while also highlighting the main retrofit challenges facing Local Government. Speakers from the London Borough of Lambeth and London South Bank University shared the results of a research project as part of the LGA and UCL Net Zero Innovation Programme which aimed to better understand the local retrofit supply chain and workforce, looking at how ready we are to really start with retrofit. The session also featured a speaker from Test Valley Borough Council who reflected on their journey having taken part in the LGA Leading and Learning Creating Green Jobs Programme.
You can read a blog post providing providing a summary of the event below.
Blog: Building Housing Retrofit Skills webinar, 15 September 2021
The webinar disseminated design skills amongst public sector professionals and provided councils with a platform to share their insights and experiences of tackling climate challenges in housing. In this session, we explored innovative approaches to low-energy housing and retrofitting from the experience of different local authorities and other partners around the country:
The Design Council explained their programme of work with the LGA to explore net zero challenges with councils using design skills. Cheshire West and Chester Council shared their experience of taking a design approach to develop a low carbon housing pilot in West Cheshire. Local Partnerships shared practical learning from their climate response programme for domestic retrofit and housing retrofit guidance. Barnsley Council and Leeds Beckett University talked about their collaboration to design and oversee the construction and evaluation of a new, low-energy housing estate in Barnsley, using the latest research and innovation in insulation and renewable energy.
Innovative approaches to low energy housing - blog
Re:fit programme, run by Local Partnerships and funded through the LGA's Sector Led Improvement grant, helps councils implement energy efficiency and local energy generation measures to their buildings or their estate.
Councils have long been at the forefront of the move to a low carbon economy by adopting energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. This has already led to impressive cost savings and a wide range of additional benefits. As local government continues to suffer cuts to its budgets there is an even stronger incentive for councils to maximise the potential for energy-related income and savings. The following report sets out the scale of the financial opportunities available to councils from energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.
A significant increase in renewable energy provision in the UK will be required if legally binding targets to be carbon neutral by 2050 are to be met. This increase provides opportunities for more councils to own renewable energy generating assets, either for an income stream, or to offset their own carbon emissions. The following guide aims to help both members and officers of councils who are considering asset ownership to understand the potential risks and benefits and how these can be managed.
We have a range of support to help councils plan for climate change, for councillors, leaders and planners, which you can find via the link below.
Case studies and notable practice
The challenge to meet net zero ambitions relies on a shift towards electrically heated properties. A key issue is how to bring fuel poor households along on this journey to net zero without making heating their homes even less affordable for them.
Worcestershire County Council: Potential conflicts between net zero and fuel poverty
South Somerset District Council are embarking on a programme of retrofitting council properties and supporting the community to retrofit their homes to save money, carbon and increase comfort and wellbeing.
South Somerset District Council: Retrofit in Rural Somerset and the Action Learning Sets
Lancaster City Council is looking to retrofit housing stock, engage with residents to explain the benefits and encourage more local contractors to bid for tenders.
Lancaster City Council: Housing Retrofit Action Learning Set
Barnsley Council declared a climate emergency in September 2019 with targets to achieve net zero carbon emissions in its own operations by 2040 and across the wider borough by 2045. The council’s Sustainable Energy Action Plan affirms the council’s commitment to embed a carbon reduction culture across the organisation. The council has a housing new-build programme, but energy efficiency measures included in properties have varied with no standard energy specification. The council wanted to work with a “critical friend” to review the specification and Leeds Sustainability Institute (LSI) have carried out this role.
To get their estate to net zero by 2030 and prepare the borough for the impact of the climate crisis, Lambeth Council have created a ‘future fit’ package for schools. This package consists of several projects, which reduce the schools’ carbon footprints, prepare them to be climate resilient, and protect school children from air pollution.
Winchester City Council has been working with Winchester Action on Climate Change (WinACC) and the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) to support the development of climate action hubs across the Winchester district.
Winchester City Council: Community and parish climate engagement
Exeter City Council have been constructing buildings to Passivhaus standards since 2009, using their triple bottom line approach to deliver high quality builds, by being socially, environmentally and financially responsible. Since starting to deliver Passivhaus homes, they have developed and built nearly 150 homes to these standards. The process of designing and building so many different types of structure, has enabled them to improve their delivery model and in doing so reduce the overall cost.
Nearly every home in the UK has the potential to use less fuel for heating, lighting and appliances. To support home and building owners with understanding how they can make their homes more energy efficient and comfortable, Greater Manchester has set up Your Home Better, a one-stop-shop to support people with advice, finding contractors, as well as overseeing installation.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is the first council in the country to introduce a new listed building consent order, giving consent for solar panels on most Grade II and Grade II* listed buildings, without the need for individual listed building consent.
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: Local Listed Building Consent Order
In February 2021, Lancashire County Council adopted a resolution to set out on an ambitious carbon reduction and nature recovery strategy that seeks to 'transition the Lancashire economy away from carbon by 2030 and address the biodiversity crisis'. They recognised that the planned highway capital surfacing programme was a highly carbon intensive programme of works so have begun a journey to ascertain the carbon output of the programme, record and measure changes made to reduce carbon outputs and develop tools to eventually integrate carbon usage into the asset lifecycle modelling.
Lancashire County Council: Highways Decarbonisation Strategy
Leeds City Council and its network partners Vital Energi have delivered a £49 million network of insulated underground pipes, supplying 15,400 megawatt-hours of heating last year, helping to reduce the city’s carbon footprint by more than 2,000 tonnes. The heat and hot water used in the system is produced from non-recyclable waste at the Recycling and Energy Recovery Facility (RERF), creating a reliable and affordable lower carbon alternative to traditional fossil fuel powered heating systems for connected buildings.
Verity Close is Kensington and Chelsea’s first low-energy retrofit council property. This project is the basis on which they intend to make the wider Lancaster West Estate carbon neutral by 2030.
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council's first low-energy council home
Enfield Council have worked in collaboration with Kensa Contracting and Engie to deliver England’s largest shared ground loop array heat pump programme replacing electric heating, all in under one year and whilst the flats remained inhabited. The project serves 400 flats in eight tower blocks in Enfield was named District Heating Project of The Year at the 25th annual H&V News Awards in 2019.
In line with Warrington Borough Council’s plans to be carbon neutral by 2030, the authority have made significant headway through investment in renewable energy projects within and beyond the borough.
Warrington Borough Council: A commercial approach to public sector clean energy investment
As part of its Zero Carbon Strategy, South Cambridgeshire District Council has invested £1.9 million in a retrofit of its Cambourne headquarters, installing renewable generation and efficient energy management systems to dramatically reduce energy bills and almost halve the carbon emissions from the building in year one.
South Cambridgeshire District Council: Greening South Cambridgeshire Hall
The West Bromwich outdoor market redevelopment sought to improve the visual amenity of the area, deliver against the Council’s climate change agenda and increase the economic impact of the market, which is at the cultural heart of the town centre.
Cambridge City Council declared a Climate Emergency in February 2019 and in its new Climate Change Strategy 2021-2026 set a target to reduce the council’s direct carbon emissions (from its corporate buildings, vehicles and business travel) to net zero by 2030 and shared a vision for Cambridge to be net zero carbon by 2030.
Cornwall has installed a new smart-grid enabled wind turbine in partnership with Centrica that will create enough green energy to power over 1,440 Cornish homes a year.
Cornwall Council: Cornwall’s first smart-grid enabled wind turbine
Since 2014, Cumbria County Council has invested £12.9 million in its LED Street Lighting replacement and improvement programme, replacing over 45,000 streetlights with more efficient and cost-effective LED technology.
South Tyneside Council declared a climate emergency in July 2019, making a pledge to take all necessary steps to make South Tyneside Council carbon neutral by 2030. The strategy captures the innovative approaches being developed to help to combat climate change, by developing a range of renewable energy schemes, minimising reliance on fossil fuels.
The Brent Partnership brings together four partners, with the aim of delivering private and affordable housing, sharing teaching space, and improving hospital and university services and facilities.
Smart Energy Greater Lincolnshire is a £8.5 million European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Salix part funded project, providing ‘one stop shop’ free advice and grants for small/medium businesses (SMEs) and public buildings to boost renewable energy use and lower carbon emissions.
North East Lincolnshire Council: Smart Energy Greater Lincolnshire
Against a challenging backdrop, financially and politically, the council has been able to develop a robust response to the climate emergency declaration of 2019 and create a pipeline of projects to accelerate delivery in line with their emergency targets. As the target dates get closer, they are building capacity to continue the growth of projects that support the emergency response and will continue to deliver at greater pace.
Northumberland County Council: Accelerating the delivery of renewable energy
Cotswold District Council secured funding from the LGA Housing Advisers Programme to collaborate with two neighbouring councils to plug a perceived gap in the market for succinct, direct and practical advice on how to achieve net zero housing, both new build and retrofit.
Cotswold District Council: Co-production of a Net Zero Carbon Toolkit
In 2014, Telford & Wrekin Council became only the second local authority in the UK to build a publicly owned solar farm. It took less than 18 months between the initial plans being proposed and construction being completed and was done so within budget.
Tewkesbury Borough Council have successfully secured £284,000 of funding form the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, who are providing funding for public sector bodies, towards the cost of installing an air to air heating system at the Council's head office.
Tewkesbury Borough Council: Solar PV on public service centre and car park
Cornwall Council is piloting ground-breaking, highly innovative technology - developed by a Cornish company - to turn methane, derived from organic waste, into renewable fuel. Working with six of its farms, the project turns methane into 'better than Net Zero' carbon biomethane.
In December 2020 Gloucester City Council set a target to ensure its estates are net zero by 2030. They applied for Salix funding to carry out a project at a sports centre, known for its high operational emissions.
Forest of Dean District Council is implementing a range of measures to decarbonise its Coleford office building, including installing a solar photovoltaic (PV) and battery storage system and replacing existing lighting with LEDs. The project aims to demonstrate how decarbonising assets and operations can be economically viable and deliver long-term financial benefits to organisations.
Forest of Dean District Council: Council Office Decarbonisation
Cheltenham are using Salix funding as part of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) to install a number of sub meters in some of their leisure facilities and listed buildings in order to measure and reduce their energy footprint. The list includes the Pittville Pump Rooms, the leisure centre and their town hall.
A new build housing programme with all homes built to achieve zero carbon in use. The homes in the programme will be built to Passivhaus certification, ensuring high thermal efficiency. Residual minor heating requirements and hot water will be provided via air source heat pumps, with all other electricity usage offset by roof mounted solar PV panels.
West Sussex County Council has a long-standing commitment to action on climate change and has pledged to make the authority carbon neutral by 2030. In the past decade, WSCC has almost halved its carbon emissions and dramatically increased the amount of renewable energy it generates. It now produces more clean electricity than it consumes in delivering its core activities, excluding schools. This has been achieved through an ambitious programme to build solar farms on council land, integrate renewable energy technology into council buildings and enable more than 80 schools to switch to clean power.
West Sussex County Council: Supporting the energy transition in West Sussex
Brighton & Hove City Council has been a lead player in identifying the potential of green hydrogen in the Greater Brighton City Region, setting up Hydrogen Sussex, a new body which supports and promotes the development of a hydrogen economy.
Newport City Council has been working in collaboration with Egni Co-op, a community organisation that funds and manages PV installation in Wales, to meet the target of becoming a carbon neutral organisation by 2030. To date, this partnership has installed 6,713 solar panels across 27 sites (2.074MW) in Newport, with an estimated annual generation of over 1,900,000 kWh of clean electricity.
Newport City Council: Community Renewable Energy for Newport
The London Borough of Sutton has adopted an ambitious Environment Strategy and Climate Emergency Response Plan. Supported by the council’s Transformation Programme, they are taking action to increase domestic retrofit, develop a zero carbon technical standards guide for all council led developments, and prevent the physical impacts of climate change through increasing access to green spaces.
LB Sutton: Transformation Programme - responding to the climate emergency
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s Lancaster West Neighbourhood Team and residents of the Lancaster West Estate (LWE) are co-designing and delivering a refurbishment programme that will transform it into a model 21st century estate that is carbon-neutral by 2030.
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: Lancaster West Refurbishment & Notting Dale Heat Network
Rowan House, the Council’s office headquarters, is undergoing a holistic transformation to be more sustainable post COVID-19. Office space is being rationalised and rented to partners, the building is being retrofitted with low carbon heating and ventilation systems and the travel plan is being revised to promote sustainable travel to work and for meetings.
Colchester Borough Council: Retrofit of Council Headquarters
Norwich City Council became the first UK council to run a public reverse public solar auction in 2015, with businesses competing to buy clean power generated by rooftop solar arrays on residential and commercial properties. To date, it has installed more than 4,500 kW of solar capacity across the area, enabling homeowners and business people to benefit from low group purchase prices.
Lancashire County Council have invested in Low carbon street lighting, through the county wide conversion of 152,000 streetlights to energy saving LEDs. Since 2009 the council has cumulatively reduced carbon emissions by over 86,400 tonnes, reduced energy consumption by over 48,189MWh and saved almost £40m in energy costs.
Waltham Forest Council retrofitted sheltered housing schemes by developing a solar-powered system that could generate and store enough electricity to power the lifts and LED lighting in communal areas, both day and night. Importantly, the installation was to have minimal impact on residents, while providing continuous flow of power to communal areas and deliver financial and CO2 savings.
LB Waltham Forest Council: Retrofitting Sheltered Housing Schemes
Switched On Portsmouth was launched in November 2019 by Portsmouth City Council to provide a comprehensive service to offer Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant residents ways in which they can save energy and money in their homes.
Bristol City Council is the first authority in the UK to develop and own wind turbines. The two turbines are predicted to generate 14.4 gigawatts annually.
Resources from elsewhere
Local Partnerships has produced the Local Authority Domestic Retrofit Handbook to support local authorities in their efforts to address domestic energy efficiency. This handbook brings existing resources together in one place and gives a suggested order in which to work through this material to assist with retrofit projects.
Building with Nature, the UK’s first green infrastructure benchmark, provide a Standards Framework for developers and policy makers. The Standards Framework, created in collaboration with leading academics, professional bodies and representatives from industry and government across the UK, provides a clear definition of high-quality green infrastructure. Building with Nature also offer a voluntary accreditation mechanism that provides an independent verification that development and policy documents meet the Building with Nature Standards.
Energy Systems Catapult (ESC) have created a guide for energy planning in local areas as a way of mitigating and adapting to climate change. They cover the importance of energy planning and provide a seven-step process to create successful energy plans in the local area. This would help focus resources on ensuring that each local area in the UK is on track to meet their decarbonisation targets.
Cornwall Council and Citizen’s Advice have collaborated to create a toolkit for local authorities and third sector partners to work together to reduce fuel poverty. This toolkit provides local authorities advice on how they can use energy efficiency to support vulnerable households. The guidance suggests how local authorities can use the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) to declare certain households’ requirement to meet the eligibility criteria for affordable warmth.
The CSE have designed this assessment matrix to help local authorities and other local energy actors to assess their area’s current performance and identify opportunities for improvement. The assessment matrix has five dimensions of action: domestic sector energy, commercial sector energy, fuel poverty, low carbon energy infrastructure and institutional ecosystem.
The Good Homes Alliance have created a toolkit on identifying indicators for overheating in homes, considering that overheating is set to increase with climate change. This toolkit provides 14 key questions that are key factors to tackling overheating and notably mention that providing cooling is not the solution. The toolkit also provides potential next steps, based on the level of risk estimated, as well as a detailed design guidance and risk assessment.
Across Britain, councils are taking action to boost renewable generation, improve energy security, lower energy bills and support community economies by seizing opportunities to get involved with energy supply. By doing so, they provide customers with an alternative to the big utility companies and are capitalising on emerging trends in energy production and transportation. These place locally-focused energy ventures centre stage.
Simply, we hope this guidance for local government will:
- broaden comprehension within local government of the options available to them in developing a long term energy strategy for their organisation.
In doing so:
- understanding the commercial opportunity available through becoming a local energy supplier
- increase indirectly the investment in low carbon technologies through more lucrative commercial options
- awareness of what time and resources are necessary to do this
By developing a fully-rounded appreciation of the various options available to it, local government can make appropriate and informed choices as to what the right energy strategy is for them, consistent with the values, policies and strategies of their council.
The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) and RTPI have prepared a guide to help planners and politicians tackle issues around climate change and improve the preparation of development plans for local authorities. Within this report, there are local planning approaches that cover setting objectives, gathering evidence for planning and local planning approaches for adaptation and mitigation.
The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) have carried out research on planning’s potential to support the delivery of smart, clean energy and produced a report mainly for policy makers, decision makers and practitioners in planning as well as others working in built environment. The report provides the findings and its impact on planners, central government and local planning authorities.
- A report on the importance of including trees as part of housing development
- This planners' manual gives local authority planners all the information they need on the importance of ancient woodland and ancient/veteran trees.
Highlighted pages
Climate change resources
Alongside the majority of councils, the LGA has declared a climate emergency. We offer a wide range of resources to help councils address environmental sustainability.
A local path to net zero
Councils want to work as partners with government, industry and communities to tackle climate change. They are intrinsic to transitioning our places and empowering our communities and businesses to net zero future.