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Councillor Simon Smith - Retrofit Dividends Cheaper Heating, Lower Emissions, Healthier Lives

Meeting of Annual Meeting, Council, Thursday, 22nd May, 2025 11.00 am (Item 25/59/CNL)

This Council notes;

Residential homes are responsible for almost 20% of the UK’s carbon emissions mainly through heating, hot water, and electricity.

Public sector buildings account for 17% of Cambridge’s emissions, which is a much higher proportion than the UK average of 3% from this emissions source.

In 2022, just over half (52%) of properties in England had Band C ratings – above the average for energy efficiency.

National Energy Action estimates that 6.1 million UK households are currently in fuel poverty, unable to afford to heat their homes to the temperature needed to keep warm and healthy.

LGA research in 2020 estimated that the average cost to councils in pursuing competitive grant-funding was in the region of £30,000 per application.

Retrofitting is a form of home improvement that brings homes up to a better standard of thermal efficiency. It can include installing insulation, improving ventilation, water conservation, replacing gas and electric boilers with heat pumps, and adding solar panels and battery storage.

Cambridge City Council’s retrofit programme is delivering multiple dividends for people and the planet and economy:

Responding to the cost-of-living crisis through lower energy bills
Mitigating climate change through lower fossil fuel emissions
Adapting to climate change by keeping homes cooler during our more frequent and extreme heatwaves
Improving quality of life through consistent and comfortable indoor temperature throughout the year,
Improving public health with better ventilation and indoor air quality protecting residents from damp, condensation and mould associated asthma and bronchial illnesses.
Creating conditions for new businesses to grow and build the skilled workforces needed to scale-up retrofit. Across the City and elsewhere.

The Council’s retrofit programme comprise the following work streams:

1. Building capacities and skills to get the job done:

- Partnership for Government energy efficiency and retrofit funding: The Council has invested in professionals who have in turn built and led the Cambridgeshire Energy Retrofit Partnership (CERP) which as a grant application and delivery vehicle has attracted over £25m in energy efficiency and retrofit programmes. The latest 2023-2025 £8.6m programme retrofitting 494 low energy efficient homes owned by low-income households across the County.

- Partnership for Government water retrofit programme: The shared planning service is leading a £5m a programme to reduce water consumption in Council homes across the City and South Cambs

- On the supply side, CERP procurement for a pipeline of energy efficiency and retrofit works has enabled contractor to invest in their business and critically apprenticeships and skills across the full range of trades.

- On the demand side, the Council has published a ‘how to’ retrofit guide for different housing archetypes for the construction industry and ‘afford to pay’ households which the CPCA is extending and promoting across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The 3C Building Control service has launched a building regulations advisory service for applicants retrofitting houses and listed buildings

2. Getting the job done, retrofitting most energy inefficient Council homes

- Council home retrofit comprising external wall insulation, improved ventilation in wet rooms, door undercuts and when required, replacement windows, rear doors and top-up loft insulation to 300mm. To date 225 homes refitted since December 2023, with funding in place for 370 more retrofits over the next two years with support the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 2.1 (£2.26m) and the Warm Homes Social Housing Fund Wave 3 and a further 130 in 2027/28.

- Net zero carbon pilot: Comprehensive retrofit of 50 Council homes on Ross Street and Coldham’s Grove to net zero carbon standards, with monitoring results and practical lessons learned and monitoring to inform future retrofit works

More than half of all heat loss from these homes is through uninsulated solid brick walls and about sixth is lost through the floor and roof. The retrofit measures involve:

· adding insulation to the external walls, floor and roofs to reduce heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer.

· replacing gas boilers with air-source heat pumps, which typically produce about three times as much energy as they use.

· installing new mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) systems. These will replace stale, moist air with fresh, filtered air and reduce heat loss. It also reduces humidity and the risk of condensation and mould.

· installing photovoltaic (PV) solar panels to the roofs, to provide electricity for the homes. This will contribute to the running of the heat pumps and MVHR systems. It will also enable qualifying tenants to claim Smart Export Guarantee payments.

· upgrading to triple-glazed windows and composite external doors to reduce heat loss, draughts and condensation. It will also provide better insulation against external noise.

- Investing in the Grade II listed Guildhall so that it will be net zero carbon in operation

3. Retrofitting private sector homes

- We are delivering government funded projects to support those on the lowest incomes with retrofitting their homes to reduce their bills and ensure they are in warm and efficient homes, funded through the Warm Homes grant

- The contractors framework agreement is also accessible to residents, helping homeowners who are in a position to pay for measures to navigate the market for suppliers and find contractors to do retrofit work.

- The Council also developed a retrofit guide to provide homeowners and landlords in Cambridge with practical information on how to retrofit their homes to make them more energy efficient. The guide sets out a whole house approach to retrofitting, based on the most common archetypes of housing in the city.

4. Retrofitting non-home building stock

- This council has set itself an ambitious target to achieve net-zero energy use by 2030 for council properties where we control the energy supply. This includes properties we occupy or manage, like community centres, as well as common areas in housing or commercial buildings we own and operate.

- In 2023, we completed a £1.7mn project (funded by Public Sector Decarbonisation Fund) to retrofit Parkside and Abbey Pools, installing air source heat pumps and energy efficiency upgrades.

- We have recently won Salix funding for decarbonization measures for the crematorium, Brown's Field Community Centre and Trumpington Pavillion - including systems controls, insulation, lighting replacement and solar panel installation.

The Civic Quarter redevelopment, will upgrade the Guildhall and Corn Exchange. We are aiming for exemplar project outcomes, targeting, water neutrality and a Biodiversity Net Gain of 20% across the Civic Quarter and Operational Net Zero for the Guildhall. The design work to date includes consideration of fabric upgrades and alignment with ENERPHIT and LETI standards, introduction of water saving measures, PV panels and enabling a future connection to the proposed city centre District Heating Network

This Council will ask the leader to write to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Milliband, and the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, to ask them to replace the current retrofit and energy efficiency funding programmes that are intermittent, short term and uncertain due to wasteful competitive bidding and hard to meet ring fenced eligibility criteria with consistent long-term funding to give confidence to local government to plan for large scale retrofit programmes and their contractors and firms in the supply chain to invest in apprenticeships and skills training.

Minutes:

Under Council Procedure Rule 26.1, with the consent of Council, Councillor Moore proposed and Councillor Smith seconded the following altered motion:

This council notes;

Residential homes are responsible for almost 20% of the UK’s carbon emissions mainly through heating, hot water, and electricity.

Public sector buildings account for 17% of Cambridge’s emissions, which is a much higher proportion than the UK average of 3% from this emissions source.

In 2022, just over half (52%) of properties in England had Band C ratings – above the average for energy efficiency.

National Energy Action estimates that 6.1 million UK households are currently in fuel poverty, unable to afford to heat their homes to the temperature needed to keep warm and healthy.

LGA research in 2020 estimated that the average cost to councils in pursuing competitive grant-funding was in the region of £30,000 per application.

Retrofitting is a form of home improvement that brings homes up to a better standard of thermal and energy efficiency. It can include installing insulation, improving ventilation, water conservation, replacing gas and other fossil fuel heating systems with heat pumps, and adding solar PV panels and battery storage.

Cambridge City Council’s retrofit programme is delivering multiple dividends for people and the planet and economy:

Responding to the cost-of-living crisis through lower energy bills
Mitigating climate change through lower fossil fuel emissions
Adapting to climate change and creating resilient homes by keeping homes cooler during our more frequent and extreme heatwaves
Improving quality of life through consistent and comfortable indoor temperature throughout the year,
Improving public health with better ventilation and indoor air quality protecting residents from damp, condensation and mould associated asthma and bronchial illnesses.
Creating conditions for new businesses to grow and build the skilled workforces needed to scale-up retrofit, across the City and elsewhere. A skilled workforce is essential for delivering an effective and sustainable retrofit programme

The work that is going on across the city and wider areas is synonymous with the campaign – ‘RetroFit for the Future.’ Fuel Poverty Action, ACORN, Greener Jobs Alliance, Medact and the Peace & Justice Project have teamed up to push for three key interventions in the retrofit debate:

a. A workforce skills plan

b. Protecting private renters

c. Accountability for retrofit work

The Council’s retrofit programme comprises the following work streams:

1. Building capacities and skills to get the job done:

- Partnership for Government water retrofit programme: The shared planning service is leading a £5m a programme to reduce water consumption in Council homes across the City and South Cambridgeshire

- On the supply side, CERP procurement for a pipeline of energy efficiency and retrofit works has enabled contractors to invest in their business and critically apprenticeships and skills across the full range of trades.

- On the demand side, the Council has published a ‘how to’ retrofit guide for different housing archetypes for the construction industry and ‘able/willing to pay’ households which the CPCA is extending and promoting across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The newly developed guide will highlight homes which are “heat pump ready.”

- The 3C Building Control service has launched a building regulations advisory service for applicants retrofitting houses and listed buildings

- To encourage retrofit at scale and pace, some of the wider work of Cambridge City Council include collaborating on a research piece with the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leaders, which is expected to be released in the Summer: “RetroFit For Future: Scaling building decarbonisation across Greater Cambridge. The aim of this piece will be to identify and detail an array of practical levers for us to encourage retrofit and the co-benefits, such as supporting the increase of green skills, supporting the growth of the local economy, and developing access to finance mechanisms for those that don’t meet grant criteria.

- City Council has created a new “Energy and Retrofit” team which has pulled together colleagues and expertise from across the organisation who work on energy and retrofit across our council owned homes, private housing and our own corporate, commercial and community properties into a new centre of excellence. The team will seek funding and partnership opportunities to support and deliver our commitments to decarbonise homes and businesses across Cambridge with an invigorated streamlined approach.

- CERP are currently seeking endorsement to create a retrofit strategy for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. With no national strategy in place to look at retrofit holistically there is a requirement to support local economy, market capacity and upskilling and leverage of private finance – a clear strategic local approach and long-term vision for delivery is important to ensure these can be reconciled.

2. Getting the job done, retrofitting most energy inefficient Council homes

- We have two principal projects underway. Using a mix of our own funds and central government grants we have so far retrofitted 225 homes to EPC C standard. We have recently received funding for a further 370 council homes over the next two years with support from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 2.1 (£2.26m) and the Warm Homes Social Housing Fund Wave 3 and a further 130 properties in 2027/28. The funding focuses on external wall insulation, ventilation through extractor fans and indoor air quality, but general improvements such replacing windows and doors when they are near to end of life and top-up loft insulation to 300mm are incorporated as much as possible.

- ~~Net zero carbon pilot: Comprehensive retrofit of 50 Council homes~~ The second project is a net-zero home pilot on Ross Street and Coldhams Grove ~~to net zero carbon standards, with monitoring results and practical lessons learned and monitoring to inform future retrofit works.~~ investing up to £5m to retrofit fully 50 homes to net zero carbon standards. Monitoring and evaluating results are key to this project to inform future retrofit projects and outcomes.

More than half of all heat loss from these homes is through uninsulated solid brick walls and about sixth is lost through the floor and roof. The retrofit measures involve:

· adding insulation to the external walls, floor and roofs to reduce heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer.

· replacing gas boilers and fossil fuel systems with clean heat solutions such as air source heat pumps, which typically produce about three times as much energy as they use.

· upgrading to triple-glazed windows and composite external doors to reduce heat loss, draughts and condensation. It will also provide better insulation against external noise.

· Investing in the Grade II listed Guildhall so that it will be net zero carbon in operation

3. Retrofitting private sector homes

- We are delivering government funded projects to support those on the lowest income with retrofitting their homes to reduce their bills and ensure they are in warm and effect homes, funded through the Warm Homes grant

- ~~The contractors’ framework agreement is also accessible to residents, helping homeowners who are in a position to navigate the market for suppliers and find contractors to do the retrofit work~~

- Cambridge City Council acts as Lead Authority delivering government-funded capital retrofit programmes across Cambridgeshire – operating as a partnership between all the Cambridgeshire authorities including Peterborough City Council and CPCA. Having successfully delivered over £9m of energy efficiency and clean heat measures through the Home Upgrade Grant 2, we have recently secured a further £8.5m from the Warm Homes: Local Grant to continue delivery for the next 3 years. These grants are designed to support low income, fuel poor households who live in the most inefficient, poorly performing homes.

- In partnership with the CPCA, the City council was awarded a further £950,000 to complete retrofit upgrades across the County.

- Cambridge City Council also participates in the Energy Company Obligation (ECO 4) administered by Ofgem, which focusses on supporting low-income, vulnerable and fuel poor households through installation of insulation and heating measures.

- The Cambridgeshire Energy Retrofit Partnership (CERP) operating under the brand of ‘Action on Energy,’ provides communities with advice on how to maximise energy efficiency within homes, save money on energy bills, cut carbon emissions and support to find accredited installers.

- The contractor’s framework agreement for the provision of energy efficiency works is also accessible to residents across Cambridgeshire, helping homeowners who are able or willing to pay for measures to navigate the market for suppliers and find accredited contractors to do retrofit work.

- With the framework in place, we have been able to develop the social benefits of the retrofit work. Contractors are offering their skills, volunteering and funding projects through “Match my Project.” This process is demonstrating strong community value in the stimulation of the retrofit market.

4. Retrofitting non-domestic building stock

- In 2023, we completed a £1.7mn project (funded by Public Sector Decarbonisation Fund) to retrofit Parkside and Abbey Pools, installing air source heat pumps and energy efficiency upgrades.

- The Civic Quarter redevelopment will upgrade the Guildhall and Corn Exchange. We are aiming for exemplar project outcomes, targeting, water neutrality and a Biodiversity Net Gain of 20% across the Civic Quarter and Operational Net Zero for the Guildhall. The design work to date includes consideration of fabric upgrades and alignment with ENERPHIT and LETI standards, introduction of water saving measures, PV panels and enabling a future connection to the proposed city centre District Heating Network

This Council will ask the leader to write to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Milliband, and the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, to:

1. Note the nation’s housing stock accounts for almost 20% of the UK’s carbon emissions and is so energy inefficient that over 6m households are in fuel poverty, unable to afford to heat their homes to the temperature needed to keep warm and healthy.

2. Note that without increasing investment to acceleratie retrofit, the UK is missing out on multiple dividends for people, the planet and economy as retrofit:

· Responds to the cost-of-living crisis through lower energy bills

· Mitigates climate change through lower fossil fuel emissions

· Adapts to climate change by keeping homes cooler during more frequent and extreme heatwaves

· Improves quality of life through consistent and comfortable indoor temperature throughout the year,

· Improves public health and productive health life expectancy with better ventilation and indoor air quality protecting residents from damp, condensation and mould associated asthma and bronchial illnesses.

· Creates conditions for new labour-intensive businesses to grow, build the skilled workforces and finance products needed to scale-up retrofit across the UK.

3. Request Government to give local government confidence to plan for large scale retrofit programmes and their contractors and firms in supply chains to invest in apprenticeships and skills training by:

i) Replacing the previous Government’s grant making regimes with one that is:

· consistent and long term (instead of intermittent and short term),

· allocated against deliverable programmes (in place of wasteful competitive bidding) and

· flexible (in place of hard to meet ring fenced eligibility criteria)

ii) Incentivising employers to invest in workforce skills recruitment and development as a well-trained workforce is essential for delivering an effective, sustainable retrofit programme.

iii) Requiring independent regulation of retrofit work with quality assurance standards alongside robust monitoring and measurement of effectiveness and value of retrofit dividends.

iv) Facilitating investment across all tenures from registered providers, afford to pay owner occupiers and private rented sector.

4. Request Government to require in the forthcoming Future Homes Standard to require installation of solar panels, set higher ventilation and building fabric standards and progress approaches to reducing embodied carbon in new buildings, noting that because the last Government scrapped Labour’s zero-carbon home standard, 1.35m homes built since 2016 will have to be retrofitted at a cost of up to £2bn.

Councillor Dalzell proposed and Councillor Porrer seconded the following amendment to motion (deleted text ~~struck through~~ and additional text underlined):

This council notes;

Residential homes are responsible for almost 20% of the UK’s carbon emissions mainly through heating, hot water, and electricity.

Public sector buildings account for 17% of Cambridge’s emissions, which is a much higher proportion than the UK average of 3% from this emissions source.

In 2022, just over half (52%) of properties in England had Band C ratings – above the average for energy efficiency.

National Energy Action estimates that 6.1 million UK households are currently in fuel poverty, unable to afford to heat their homes to the temperature needed to keep warm and healthy.

LGA research in 2020 estimated that the average cost to councils in pursuing competitive grant-funding was in the region of £30,000 per application.

Cambridge City Council’s retrofit programme is delivering multiple dividends for people and the planet and economy:

Responding to the cost-of-living crisis through lower energy bills
Mitigating climate change through lower fossil fuel emissions
Adapting to climate change and creating resilient homes by keeping homes cooler during our more frequent and extreme heatwaves
Improving quality of life through consistent and comfortable indoor temperature throughout the year,
Improving public health with better ventilation and indoor air quality protecting residents from damp, condensation and mould associated asthma and bronchial illnesses.
Creating conditions for new businesses to grow and build the skilled workforces needed to scale-up retrofit, across the City and elsewhere. A skilled workforce is essential for delivering an effective and sustainable retrofit programme

a. A workforce skills plan

b. Protecting private renters

c. Accountability for retrofit work

The Council’s retrofit programme comprises the following work streams:

1. Building capacities and skills to get the job done:

- Partnership for Government water retrofit programme: The shared planning service is leading a £5m a programme to reduce water consumption in Council homes across the City and South Cambridgeshire

- The 3C Building Control service has launched a building regulations advisory service for applicants retrofitting houses and listed buildings

2. Getting the job done, retrofitting most energy inefficient Council homes

- The second project is a net-zero home pilot on Ross Street and Coldhams Grove investing up to £5m to retrofit fully 50 homes to net zero carbon standards. Monitoring and evaluating results are key to this project to inform future retrofit projects and outcomes.