Improving urban homes
Transforming lives by transforming our buildings
We know that access to warm, safe homes that are affordable to run isn’t available to everyone today. That’s why Repowering London is expanding its work to include low-carbon heat and energy efficiency technologies. We’re providing retrofit solutions that improve our homes and buildings and help decarbonise our urban environment.
What is retrofit?
Retrofit. You may have heard the word, but you may not know what it means. Essentially, it means improving and upgrading homes to be more energy efficient and potentially cheaper to run. Things like:
- making it easier to heat homes, and for them to retain that heat for longer – usually by improving the “fabric” of the building, i.e. the walls, roof, windows and other external-facing parts of the home
- making sure home ventilation systems work effectively so that clean air enters the home and stale air leaves it
- fixing any problem areas within homes, e.g. damp, condensation and mould
- improving the efficiency of heating systems and/or adding renewable technologies, such as solar panels or heat pumps.
Why do we need retrofit?
In addition, our built environment is responsible for nearly 40% of CO2 emissions and is a major contributor to climate change. As the UK works towards its 2030 energy transition targets, both distributed clean energy and energy efficiency are crucial to decarbonising the built environment. For urban net-zero projects to accelerate, they’ll need access to tailored financing, community engagement and policy support.
But creating clean energy projects in an urban environment has a range of challenges. Access to property and complex ownership structures mean there is no one-size-fits-all solution to decarbonising our cities. That’s where Repowering London comes in.
The UK has some of the worst-performing homes in Western Europe when it comes to energy efficiency
Leading a retrofit revolution
Repowering London and South East London Community Energy (Selce) are now working together to deliver domestic retrofit at scale and create homes that are fit for the future. Together, we are pioneering a community-led approach to improving the energy efficiency of the UK’s housing stock. Our aim is to make retrofit easy to understand and access.
We will provide a holistic retrofit coordination service that can be tailored to meet the needs of all households and residents. We will put people and residents at the heart of the process by taking a neighbourhood approach. To begin with, Repowering London is focusing on Lambeth and Newham to build on our existing work there.
We can help make your home warmer
If you are a homeowner in Lambeth or Newham, you can register now to unlock expert advice from Repowering London about how to upgrade your home with solutions like:
- Insulation
- Heating upgrades
- Solar panels
Once you are registered, a member of our team will get in touch to discuss how we can help you achieve a Greener, more comfortable home that is cheaper to run, including information about trusted tradespeople.
Long-term ambition
Unlocking retrofit
Repowering London has been awarded funding through the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme to ‘unlock retrofit’ for blocks of flats. This project builds on our previous work examining the challenges and opportunities to retrofit in this property type, and the retrofit toolkit we have developed in partnership with the GLA and other partners.
The funding has allowed us to test out an innovative retrofit advisory service for early engagement and feasibility work. This will include collecting data, engaging stakeholders to co-develop retrofit plans and demonstrating viability to finance providers.
Repowering London and its partners – the Confederation of Cooperative Housing and Future Climate – have done a trial of the service at six blocks of flats across London and we will use what we learn to help us develop a long-term service offer.
Toolkit tackles advice gap for flats
Nearly half of all London households live in flats, yet advice on energy efficiency and environmental upgrades is often focused on people in houses. In partnership with the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Future Climate – and with funding from the MCS Foundation – Repowering London has helped develop a new toolkit that will support the improvement of blocks of flats.
The toolkit is aimed at landlords, leaseholders, building managers and retrofit professionals and hopes to help them better understand how to boost the energy-efficiency and sustainability of their blocks and buildings.
We can help – Whoever you are
Are you:
- A homeowner who would like to learn more about the retrofit options available to you and get support throughout the process?
- A landlord of a block of flats, a leaseholder in a block, a private renter in a flat, or the building manager of a block of flats and want to reduce your energy bills, make your home more comfortable and decarbonise your building?
- Or a community energy group, housing co-operative, community land trust or have shared freehold and you would like advice and guidance on how to use the retrofit toolkit.
- You may be a local authority or housing association and want to explore options for decarbonising your blocks and estates within your boroughs.
Whatever your reason for exploring retrofit – get in touch with us today.
Want to talk?
To explore your options for urban retrofit with a member of our team, just click here.
