Urbanism
Environment
Design

info@urbed.coop

After completing the research phase of our work with Carbon Coop on 'People Powered Retrofit' in Spring 2019 we have published a joint report on our findings, available here. 

Key recommnedations for central and local government and community energy organisations include: 

• Taking a local approach, engaging with householders and existing supply chain networks via a trusted community intermediary, is an effective way to build a market for domestic retrofit. 
• It's not all about financial payback! Householder purchasing decisons are influenced by a number of interlinked issues such as quality, disruption, potential health benefits and wider social values. 
• The delivery of retrofit for owner-occupier householders is a complex service, resistant to automation and purely technological approaches. It's about people as clients, not housing archetypes. 
• Creating a local retrofit market requires an integrated neighbourhood-scale local economic development approach, building on existing networks and partnerships. 
• Historic forms of Local Authority lending could be repurposed to secure wider social value from new local retrofit markets. 

Over the next two years we plan to pilot a new 'People Powered Retrofit' service for householders in Greater Manchetser, working with Carbon Coop in target neighbourhoods, with retrofit works expected to start this autumn.