Decarbonisation made easy: A road map for net zero homes

The housing sector must be at the forefront of decarbonisation and the journey to net zero.

We also know what a colossal feat this is and how overwhelming it can feel for stretched organisations. This can lead to inaction but the longer we delay, the more difficult it becomes to achieve our net zero targets. Organisations do not need to tackle this alone or in one go. That is why at NetZero Collective we’ve put together a seven-step roadmap to simplify and guide you through the process in a sustainable way.

Our belief is resolute: the sooner we embark on the path to decarbonise our economy, particularly within the housing sector, the more cost-effective and transformative the outcome will be.

Your decarbonisation road map

Step 1: Review your assets

Before you kick-start any decarbonisation programme, it is important to understand your baseline data and intended outcomes. Utilising accurate and integrated data will help you create a portfolio level strategy.

Tip: Maximise the data you already have, such as:

• Energy Performance Certificates
• Unique property reference numbers
• Key tenant information
• Asset characteristics and fuel types
• Existing investment plans

Analysing all of these data sets as a whole can be a challenge and isn’t something that many local authorities or housing associations are set up to do in-house. However, there are systems available to support this work, such as NetZero Collective’s PLANET model.

Systems like PLANET combine information from different sources to reveal how variables interact. They can be layered with data from Ordnance Survey to map out the data in a format that can help to build a logical, sustainable, and well-phased programme of retrofit works that can be budgeted for delivery.

From here you have a much better overview of feasibility and the required actions to achieve your targets. Following this analysis, you will have a clear programme of works, a target road, estate, or property type, and a clear rationale for this selection.

Be clear about the size of the challenge

Now that you’ve analysed your property portfolio and identified where best to start, it’s time to consider the scale of the works.

Will retrofitting ten properties per year allow you to hit your organisation’s decarbonisation goals? Or do you need to think about how you can develop a phased programme that will deliver retrofits at volume in a few years’ time?

Phasing tools will help you do this, and more, by plugging in data such as your organisation’s net zero goal, the total number of properties you own, an indicative cost per property for retrofit based on knowledge of previously completed schemes, and information from EPCs, and an indicative inflation rate of 2%, the Bank of England’s target.

Combining this information, phasing tools can demonstrate what a sustainable and well-planned approach to decarbonisation will look like for your organisation. This helps you to build the business case for investment now. Remember, waiting will only make it more expensive.

Step 2: Let’s get surveying

PAS2035 surveys

All domestic retrofit processes should be aligned to PAS2035, the British standard for domestic projects. To comply, you’ll need a retrofit assessor to complete a whole house survey on every home you plan to include in your decarbonisation project.

The assessor will review each property individually and provide a report outlining the possible retrofit options, their relative benefits, and indicative costs.

This will also include a risk assessment to ensure retrofit recommendations are compatible with each other and meet the needs of your tenants living within each home. The findings of the surveys will be shared with you as a report, allowing you to understand the true scale of the decarbonisation challenge and what it will take to decarbonise your selected properties.

Remote monitoring

Remote monitoring solutions are not required as part of the PAS2035 process, but we recommend them as a valuable addition to the retrofit process. The technology should be installed at survey stage to create a baseline.

Discreet remote monitoring can record internal air quality, temperature, CO2 levels, humidity and energy consumption on a property-by-property basis and requires no specialist equipment for the surveyor to install. These are unintrusive and, with a 5-year battery life, there is no cost to your tenants to run the sensors.

Prior to works starting, you’ll have clear evidence of the difference that your retrofit programme creates.

Step 3: Planning a successful programme

Retrofit coordination

You’re making great progress. You’ve got a plan; know how many properties you want to be retrofitting each year and have taken steps to survey the first batch. This is where your retrofit coordinator comes in.

They may be in-house, or an external consultant, but it’s always best practice to ensure they are independent from the retrofit works contractor.

Using all the data you’ve gathered; your retrofit coordinator will create and oversee a delivery programme for this project.

The programme should link back to the original phasing plan to ensure that the speed and pace of the programme remains aligned to your business’ net zero targets.

Step 4: Funding

Your oven-ready projects are designed, costed and planned, but we all know that retrofits aren’t cheap. So, it’s important to maximise your use of available external funding. And lucky for you, with all the work you’ve done so far, you should have everything you need to put together a great funding application.

With many funding streams, applications can be done independently, through a consultant or via consortia. Regardless of the approach you choose, having a clearly defined project with clear deliverables and the survey data to back up the claimed carbon savings will mean you stand a great chance of securing what you need.

Funds to explore include:

SHF: Warm Homes
ECO4
Green homes grant
Renewable heat incentive
Boiler upgrade scheme
Home upgrade grant phase 2
Great British insulation scheme

Step 5: Procuring your programme delivery team

Finding the right contractors and consultants to deliver your decarbonisation programme can be a daunting process. However, you can make things easier for yourself by considering using trusted frameworks or dynamic purchasing systems (DPS). This means the contractors and consultants have already been rigorously assessed on their experience and abilities before being approved and placed on the framework.

Appointing a retrofit coordinator

Your appointed retrofit coordinator will need to liaise with all parties involved to ensure the works are delivered on time. They will take overall responsibility of the project and evaluate the energy efficiency measures installed.

Step 6: Start on site, and continual review

This is the exciting bit, where retrofits take place, and you see the benefits of your time and investment coming to fruition for your tenants. However, it is important to regularly review your progress to ensure your net zero goal is achieved.

This will help reduce any unforeseen issues arising and steer overrunning projects back on track. If there is any slippage in the programme, or an under delivery in any planned period, then adjustments should be made to the rest of the programme.

Step 7: It’s as easy as that

Congratulations! You’ve completed your first decarbonisation project. You have everything in place to keep going to deliver your full retrofit programme and smash your net zero goals.

As each project completes, take a moment to review the impact you’ve made. If you chose to install remote monitoring in your properties, you should now have months of pre-retrofit data to review and compare against. It’s best practice to compare like-for-like periods, so if you have pre-retrofit data showing December-February energy use, then wait until you have the same period for data for your post-retrofit review if possible.

But you might also see some impacts right away, so feel free to geek out over the data.

Conclusion

Breaking down a new and large project into small steps is always the way to make it achievable and feel the momentum of progress. We know that overall, our housing stock is some of the coldest in Europe, and it is a huge job to bring them up to the energy-efficient standards we need to see. But it is possible, and it can be done.

We hope this phased approach inspires positive action in your organisation and perhaps we may even have the opportunity to work together.

Let’s start today. We have no time to lose.