Support with your domestic retrofit project planning and preparation

Retrofit Information, Support and Expertise – or RISE - is a free support service funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, providing training, guidance, and support to help social housing providers, local authorities, and their supply chains across England plan and deliver successful domestic retrofit programmes.

RISE has helped housing providers secure millions of pounds of retrofit funding, most recently through the Warm Homes schemes. Now RISE is evolving to extend its support, working with organisations that have been awarded Warm Homes funding as they prepare for project delivery.

David Kemp, RISE’s Programme Director, explains how this new element of the RISE service is so important, and the difference it will make.

David, RISE now actively supports organisations that have been awarded Warm Homes funding, as they prepare to deliver their retrofit projects. How has this new element of RISE’s offer come about?

The team delivering the RISE service has been working with local authorities and social housing providers for several years now; helping them to develop plans for really strong retrofit projects that secure government funding.

This sees us working incredibly closely with individual organisations and consortia; we get to know them and their projects well, we understand their strengths and potential, as well as the possible risks or challenges that they might face.

This evolution of RISE means that we can continue these relationships post-funding announcement. Many organisations need on-going support to get their projects off the ground, and now they can access that from the same expert team they are used to working alongside.

Ultimately, this means that every retrofit project entering the delivery phase is optimised for success, and we’ve got there in the most efficient way possible.

Why is this support so important now?

The Warm Homes Local Grant and Warm Homes Social Housing Fund has been allocated a total of £1.79bn of funding to be delivered through eligible local authorities and social housing landlords between 2025 and 2028. This is the largest allocation of capital funding for housing retrofit seen so far, and will go a long way to improving the energy efficiency and warmth of millions of homes across the country.

By extending the support that RISE can offer, we’re helping housing providers to rise to this challenge, take full advantage of the opportunities that Warm Homes presents, and prepare to deliver successful projects that will improve people’s lives.

If an organisation previously engaged with RISE during the funding application phase, why should they reconnect during pre-delivery?

Often, the teams responsible for project delivery differ from those who managed the funding application. Delivery teams might lack specific retrofit expertise; for example, the approach to resident engagement that you need to take for a retrofit project differs significantly from the approach for standard home improvements like kitchens or bathrooms. RISE can now help to upskill delivery teams as comprehensively as it supported those involved in the project planning and bid writing, to ensure they have the skills to deliver retrofit projects specifically.

RISE also plays a really important role of monitoring risks during the preparation stages; our team will continually work with organisations to identify and mitigate risks as they emerge, and will continue to do so right through to the start of delivery.

If you need support preparing for your next retrofit project or have been awarded Warm Homes funding and want to access RISE’s expert assistance, visit riseretrofit.org.uk. RISE offers both one to one, technical support, and a comprehensive learning and development offer that includes training courses, Masterclass events, online resources, podcasts and video content, all focuses on retrofit planning and delivery.

RISE offers a broad range of resources – from advice packs and toolkits, to deep dive articles – to support all organisations involved in the planning and delivery of residential retrofit. Explore the RISE Knowledge Hub here: https://riseretrofit.org.uk/resources

All of RISE’s upcoming Masterclasses, Bootcamps and other training events can be found here: https://riseretrofit.org.uk/events

All RISE Masterclasses are available after the event as on-demand content. Explore this content here:
https://www.youtube.com/@RISERetrofit

View more videos from this series here