The Overview
CHP is a not-for-profit housing association in Essex, managing over 11,700 homes, and providing services to over 27,000 customers. It values the importance of sustainable development, especially in energy efficient and future-proof homes, and it is committed to alleviating financial pressures for their customers while reducing its environmental impact.
As part of CHP’s sustainability aims they are looking to retrofit around 1,800 of its rented homes in order to improve their energy performance.
The Challenge
In 2023, CHP approached us to help them adopt a strategic framework that would allow them to identify the homes and highlight the correct steps to make them more energy-efficient. To help fund the works needed they decided to submit a bid to the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) to try and secure funding for an initial 100-home retrofit project.
The complicated set of parameters outlined in the SHDF requirements meant that CHP needed additional expertise to identify the appropriate retrofitting steps and which properties to target. As David George, Sustainability & Asset Manager at CHP said: “To absorb the requirement and conduct the bid was challenging. We needed the support of a collaborative partner with a proven track record and expertise in this field to ensure we put forward a compelling bid.”
The Solution
Sero’s experience and Pathways tool was the ideal solution to meet CHP’s needs. In early 2023, we began implementing our Pathway to Net Zero solution to assess the energy efficiency of CHP’s homes and target those most in need of retrofitting improvements using our data-driven portfolio analysis. These outline the cost of potential measures alongside their impact on energy performance and bills, to recommend the best approach for each home.
Our assessment process involved targeting houses below EPC C. These homes are usually non-traditional or older houses that provide poor thermal efficiency. We needed to come up with a solution that would combat this issue and help reduce heating bills for their customers, while CHP wanted solar panels to be one of the retrofitting focal points. Using our data-driven expertise and technology, we successfully identified homes with low EPC scores and developed the appropriate retrofitting steps to ensure these homes will meet energy efficiency targets.
We worked jointly with CHP, developing an application for the SHDF funding. Our agility and flexibility created an environment that encouraged collaboration with CHP, catering to changes to the bid even if they were last minute. We responded well to CHP’s development points as we swiftly revisited and amended requirements.
The Impact
The bid was a success, with CHP receiving £600,000 in SHDF funding, a sum which is matched by a contribution of £600,000, taking the total to £1.2m. This will be used to retrofit 100 Essex-based homes to achieve an EPC C rating by 2030.
Significantly, we were also able to identify 8,030 homes in the initial pathway assessment with retrofit needs, which has helped CHP fill in the blanks in its portfolio. These insights are essential and will play a massive role in helping CHP reach its goal of future-proofing its homes and reaching its energy efficiency targets. CHP wanted to engage with Sero for three main reasons. Our expert knowledge and the independence of our organisation left CHP confident that we would provide the best possible solution while smoothly streamlining the process. Additionally, our proven record of successful projects from Pobl, meant CHP felt reassured by our expertise and knowledge, given their limited experience in retrofit coordination.
David added: “Throughout the entire process, I was introduced to many people at Sero and the entire team was extremely knowledgeable. This was our first retrofit programme, so the proven track record and industry experience was essential.”
What’s Next?
We’ve identified 8,030 homes in the initial pathway and following this initial success, CHP is striving to survey even more homes this financial year, with the aim of updating around 600 EPC’s.
We are currently in the retrofitting coordination phase, aiming to complete the SHDF project by the end of March 2026. CHP was impressed by our collaborative bid writing process and the expert knowledge shown by our team. Currently, we are exploring a potential long-term partnership with CHP, which will include the opportunity to revisit Sero Pathways every year with a 2024 update already booked in.
Speaking on selecting Sero to undertake management of the project, David said: “Having performed Pathway analysis with Sero, it provided us with a clear direction for retrofit improvements. Sero has managed assessment and coordination projects but crucially, they are also independent from the design and installation which for me, means they are better placed to manage project monitoring and delivery.”