Retrofit at scale

We help local and national government bodies to develop retrofit policy and leadership that can help them achieve their climate action plans. Our approach is to combine a compelling evidence base with interventions that reflect and respond to a location or region’s particular issues.

From working in partnership with energy specialists and the Greater London Authority to unlock demand-side flexibility in London’s energy network, to working with representatives from the M10 – the 10 elected Combined Authorities - to understand levers and policy asks to central government, we are at the frontier of retrofit policy development.

Before any work can begin, clients need to define the baseline and socio/technical/economic case for investment in retrofit at scale. We support this with impact monitoring and definition of the benefits a community should expect to see across a range of dimensions. This can span energy saving, emissions reductions, as well as improved health outcomes across communities.

We led the development of the outline business case for 3Ci’s Net Zero Neighbourhoods programme, a transformative method to how we can deliver domestic retrofit and decarbonise places. This is underscored by our work developing Local Area Energy Plans (LAEPs) and Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES)  which support local and devolved administrations across the UK. This is a pioneering planning approach which addresses the whole energy system, to deliver an evidence-base for change and sets out a plan for implementation.

Retrofit at scale is an unfamiliar process and programme for most authorities, one requiring new skills and development mechanisms. We work with clients to set up credible and cost-effective pilot projects that can build market confidence and local support, based on the genuine issues that local housing stock faces.

We partnered with City of Wolverhampton Council to define a net zero neighbourhood pilot project. The scheme will deliver housing retrofits and low-carbon heating, alongside decarbonising street infrastructure. The goal is to establish how decarbonisation measures can renew places at scale, allowing communities to continue to flourish and grow.

Retrofit at scale is a major financial commitment with a range of complexities in delivery – opportunity lies in the potential for public and private stakeholders to join forces. We help clients to find funding opportunities and develop effective governance and delivery vehicles, to ensure schemes are viable.

Working alongside industry partners, we have supplied a blueprint plan of a domestic retrofit service to homeowners. This offers access to property assessments, finance solutions, local supplier coordination, and general advice on how to retrofit one’s home for the community of Chapel Allerton in Leeds.

From fabric performance to fire safety, heat pumps to heat networks, our designers and engineers help clients to tackle every technical element of the retrofit process. For developer and investor clients, we bring these insights to scenario planning and advisory support on neighbourhood and city scales.

We provided technical expertise to develop an innovative, coordinated, and replicable approach for the deployment of heat pumps at high density in the private owner/occupier sector in Leeds. Collaborating with city councils and energy stakeholders, we identified potential interventions for city heat decarbonisation across Newcastle and Nottingham, as part of their City Decarbonisation Delivery Plans.

Retrofit at scale programmes are inherently knotty. Our multidisciplinary team is perfectly placed to deliver solutions, drawing upon deep technical and project management capability, to support the delivery of nationally significant schemes.

As joint delivery partner for the £1.8bn Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and Home Upgrade Grant, we are providing project management and technical assessment services to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, supporting the delivery of funding to social and low income housing retrofit across England. Project insights are constantly monitored, and the programme is adapting in direct response. We see climate resilience as a key retrofit outcome and have also developed climate adaption plans for London schools, as well as a plan to retrofit ‘cool roofs’.

Retrofit at scale generates a lot of important data about housing, investment, populations and communities’ experiences. Drawing on insights derived from the various projects mentioned above, we have also completed a study looking to quantify the monetary ‘net present value’ for additional benefits associated with the large scale retrofit of social housing units.

We have worked in partnership with UKGBC, Leeds Beckett University and Vianalytics to develop a Domestic Retrofit Calculator. It is intended to help government to understand the scale of investment needed to retrofit UK homes and will be publicly available. We develop these research tools to help the sector gain confidence and share an evidence base for action.

Retrofit at scale is ever changing as new technologies and methodologies emerge. Arup’s Retrofit at Scale taskforce brings together multidisciplinary insights to ensure we are at the forefront of this vital national priority.