Overview

In March 2024, British Gas secured a seven-year contract with the Welsh Government to run the Warm Homes Programme, aimed at reducing fuel poverty in Wales. The program targets homeowners and private renters facing high energy costs, on low incomes or means-tested benefits, and/or chronic health conditions . Those who qualify are offered advice and home energy improvements, such as heat pumps and solar panels, to reduce bills and carbon footprints.

Challenge 

Fuel poverty in Wales affects households that spend more than 10% of their income on heating, with over 20% considered in severe fuel poverty. The Welsh Government aims to reduce fuel poverty to under 5% by 2035. To help achieve this goal, the Warm Homes Programme, administered by British Gas, aims to deliver improvements to 1,500 homes per year, using a mix of Wales-based contractors and British Gas employees.

Ensuring quality installations that provide the right solutions and outcomes for both residents and the Welsh Government is crucial to the success of this project, along with a seamless delivery from assessment to installation and handover. Delivering a project of this size is no mean feat, with Wales not only having the oldest housing stock in the UK but also a very diverse one, representing a long history of industrialisation and housebuilding.

Unlike large-scale programmes in social housing, where providers typically select homes of the same archetype, enabling a more standardised approach, the Warm Homes Programme relies on homeowners and private renters individually opting in, complicating the retrofit process. Lee Fisher, Sero’s Retrofit Coordinator, explains, “When no two houses are the same, this makes retrofitting at scale very challenging. Each home, its journey, and its current condition need to be considered on a case-by-case basis.” Lee adds, “Homeowners, unlike social housing residents, may have recently undertaken some home improvements, like a new bathroom. When we come in and explain that the fan installed needs to be replaced or the new door they’ve put in needs to be changed because it doesn’t meet regulations, it can be challenging.”

Solution 

In June 2024, British Gas appointed us as its Retrofit Coordinator for an initial three-year contract, with an option to extend to the full seven-year programme duration. Delivering the project to PAS 2035 standards, our team of Retrofit Coordinators will undertake Retrofit Coordination Services for 30+ homes per week and work with multiple Assessors, Designers, and Installers, along with British Gas, to deliver the programme.

To combat the challenge of the diverse housing stock and ensure every home had the ri ght retrofit assessment and medium-term improvement plan (MTIP) produced within required timescales, Sero worked with British Gas’ Retrofit Assessors from project inception. Onboarding and training sessions with retrofit assessors and supply chain were provided. These sessions explained the additional information needed from the retrofit assessments, above and beyond what is normally required. This not only ensured that the most appropriate measures were selected for each home, and remedial works were identified but also avoided re-visits and helped keep the programme on schedule.

Similarly, Sero worked with British Gas’ designers to develop a standard design pack. The pack provided an easy-to-understand design layout and the necessary information for Sero to review each design against the MTIP. The aim of the pack was to not only improve the design review process but also ensure contractors on-site had the information they needed to install correctly. Lee adds, “A simple tweak that we made to the design pack was to get the designer to mark out where the extract grill should go on the outside wall for the dMEV. This meant that as the RC, we could make sure it would be installed compliantly, and the installer knew exactly where it should go.”

Impact

To date, the project is helping over 600 homes across Wales. Our Retrofit Coordination team has successfully reviewed over 600 assessments, issued 550 MTIPs, and reviewed over 150 designs. Works are currently underway on over 100 homes, with 20 lodged to Trustmark.

All parties are working together, continuously learning and improving practices to meet delivery targets and overcome the challenge of working on such a diverse housing stock. Ross Kirwan, Head of Nest at British Gas, adds, “We have been working together with Sero for over 12 months now, first to deliver a solution to implement a new Retrofit process for the mobilisation of the Welsh Government Warm Homes Programme, and then from April 2024, we have been working closely to deliver operational support for over 550 applications that we have submitted to create a Medium Term Improvement Plan for each customer.

“Sero has been extremely supportive in delivering a new solution for us and driving the required changes needed to deliver day-to-day volume activity. Over the last 12 months, we have delivered a robust process that clearly defines the requirements for delivering a successful Retrofit Coordination process for the scheme.”

Download our British Gas case study