The Greater London Authority’s Retrofit Accelerator programmes are breaking new ground as part of the Mayor of London’s ambitious agenda to make the capital a zero-carbon city.
KEY INFORMATION
Location: Greater London, UK
Date started: 2010
Completion date: ongoing
Client type: real estate
Main capabilities: cost and commercial management, programme advisory, project management
Meeting the net zero challenge
The programmes, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, are set up to channel sources of funding and provide expertise for the comprehensive retrofit of homes and workplaces – making them more sustainable, saving carbon and reducing energy bills.
The programmes are targeted at public sector bodies – from council and housing association homes, to local authority, health and education estates. We are the lead delivery partner for the programmes, responsible for engaging organisations in the initiative and coordinating a world-leading technical supply chain to deliver it.
Making retrofit stack up
Retrofit is not a new idea, but the Mayor’s programmes’ success lies in their holistic approach. A comprehensive assessment of energy performance is undertaken to identify a package of interventions for existing buildings and ensure that investment is fully funded over the long-term.
The upcoming pipeline of over 1,000 homes is set to receive ‘deep whole house’ retrofit – going far beyond traditional small-scale single interventions such as glazing or insulation – resulting in an average reduction in emissions of at least 60 per cent.
Similar success is being delivered in workplaces, with the programme helping over 700 public sector buildings save an estimated 100m kWh of energy every year – bringing significant cost savings as well as preventing 36,000 tonnes of CO2 a year from entering the atmosphere.
A blueprint for a change
The Mayor’s programmes have now been evolving and expanding in scope for over a decade – pre-empting the rise of net zero targets that are now recognised across the UK and globally as needed to tackle the climate emergency.
As a result, these programmes are playing a vital role in upskilling the UK supply chain with energy efficiency retrofit identified as delivering one new job per £50-60K spent, significantly outperforming all other built environment sectors to support the delivery of a green recovery.
It is estimated that the model of whole-building retrofit has the potential to create a £400-£600bn domestic market, as well as opening opportunities to export this expertise internationally.
