The challenge

Brockmoor’s strategy responds to the urgent UK challenge of housing decarbonisation. Rather than tackling isolated retrofit projects, it needed to work across a mixed-tenure area of social, private rented and owner-occupied housing – reflecting the real-world complexity facing many UK neighbourhoods.

The programme also needed to ensure equitable access to energy improvements and build the trust residents need to manage new technologies such as heat pumps confidently.

The solution

The initiative adopts a whole-neighbourhood approach, combining domestic and non-domestic retrofit, on-site renewable energy generation, battery storage and smart energy management technologies, underpinned by a “fabric first” philosophy. To ensure broad and equitable access, 131 homes were targeted based on existing EPC ratings and retrofit suitability rather than income means-testing.

An innovative blended finance approach acts as a critical enabler, securing circa £3.53m including flexible grant funding from WMCA and DMBC, alongside grants such as social housing decarbonisation and social housing decency funding, the Home Upgrade Grant and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. The flexibility of this finance enabled the initiative to extend beyond originally funded homes to include owner-occupied properties.

Equans led the design and delivery architecture, coordinating a multi-partner consortium including Keele University and Connected Places Catapult, and orchestrating technical integration, funding streams and community engagement.

How the project works

The retrofit work surpassed initial targets, upgrading 52 homes with fabric enhancements, heat decarbonisation, 109kWp of solar PV, 198kWh of battery storage and the “Levelise” smart optimisation technology, which maximises the use of solar PV and battery storage to increase energy independence and reduce bills. When local grid capacity limits arose, the team revised the renewable system design to maintain performance without delay.

Real-time monitoring of indoor temperature, air quality, humidity and energy consumption across 70 homes provided data-driven insights to optimise retrofit effectiveness and occupant comfort – including identifying insulation issues, enabling targeted remediation.

Community engagement ran through four community engagement days, 13 additional events, door-knocking campaigns and collaboration with Friends of Brockmoor Park, while monthly and quarterly consortium meetings accelerated issue resolution and innovation.

The results

Retrofitted homes saw a reduction of around 60% in energy demand, carbon emissions and costs, with all upgraded properties reaching at least EPC C and some achieving EPC A. Domestic improvements save at least 48.7 tCO2e annually and cut average space heating consumption by 4,674 kWh/year, rising to 5,655 kWh/year in vulnerable households. Average energy bill savings are £937 per household, increasing to £1,849 for vulnerable residents.

Engagement targeted over 65% vulnerable households, and resident surveys showed around 75% satisfaction, citing improved comfort, reduced stress and financial relief – one tenant moved from energy debt to £400 in credit. More than 100 households took part in climate education, active travel initiatives promoted walking and cycling, and revitalised green spaces are fostering biodiversity and wellbeing.

Financially, the project leveraged an initial £1.65m investment to secure £1.88m in additional funding. Plans are underway to scale the model to additional West Midlands neighbourhoods and support other UK regions, combining public and private investment.