NetZero Collective is supporting Onward to decarbonise their hard-to-retrofit assets, completing a PAS2035 survey, 3D scan and drone survey on a listed building in Liverpool.

At Housing 2022 in Manchester in June, NetZero Collective’s stand hosted an interactive decarbonisation game which helped to spread the word about the impact that different retrofit elements have on overall CO2 emissions, and the cost to heat a home.

In the Play Your Cards Right style game, the lucky players who managed to get closest to the zero-carbon goal were each rewarded with the option to select one of their real-life homes to receive a free PAS2035 retrofit assessment, 3D property scan, CAD drawings, external drone survey and a comprehensive NetZero Collective scheme report utilising data output from our partner, the University of Southampton’s, dynamic thermal model.

Onward, who own and manage over 35,000 homes across the North West of England, were one of the prize winners, and were the first to select a home that they wanted to put through the NetZero Collective process.

Chris Morris, Head of Asset Management at Onward, said:  “We were pleased and excited to win this prize, as it gave us the opportunity to get an independent assessment on one of our more complex assets – a listed building in a conservation area. We know the retrofit costs and measures on a property like this will not fit the narrative of the typical asset that we own. So, we will use the information from this survey for future business planning, with greater assurance than any desktop software modelling.

“Onward is currently progressing a retrofit scheme of 130 homes in the Liverpool City Region, funded via the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund wave 1, and we are planning three bids covering up to 750 homes for wave 2 as we focus on having all our properties at EPC C by 2030 and zero carbon by 2050.”

Neil Waite, NetZero Collective Director, said: “It was great to meet the Onward team in Manchester at Housing 2022, and we’re really excited to be able to deliver this survey free of charge to them as one of the winners of our conference mini-game.

“Decarbonising all UK homes by 2050 is a massive challenge, and listed building like this one pose an even greater challenge for their owners. But nothing is impossible, and by using our data-led approach, developed in conjunction with the University of Southampton, we’re confident that we can support Onward, and others like them, to make positive investments in these beautiful heritage buildings which will see them remain a feature of our towns and cities for years to come.”