Novoville is working with partners to define the requirements of a country-wide platform for energy efficiency upgrades in private blocks of flats

Homeowners in Britain know their homes let heat escape, are slow to warm up and keep warm: British homes offer a lower level of thermal comfort compared to their European counterparts throughout the year.

Collectively, we know that housing emissions -- which represent close to a fifth of the country's carbon emissions -- will have to reach very close to zero for the country to meet its climate objectives. As well as insulation, homes will need to switch from fossil-fuel boilers to low carbon heating in order to decarbonise.

Wherever local government have some level of influence over the financing and delivery of upgrades, such as in the social housing sector, work is being done and important lessons are being learnt. Meanwhile there are an increasing range of retrofit advice services helping individual homeowners; but those advice services tend to ignore flats where the need for collaboration between co-owners makes advice more complicated.

To unlock decarbonisation, and warmer, cheaper to heat homes in private blocks of flats, a dedicated advice and support solution is needed. Novoville technology is already helping hundreds of Scottish flat owners to work together manage repairs and maintenance on their blocks. We propose to build on this existing application to develop an offering that will support residents, leaseholders, building managers and freeholders in privately-owned blocks of flats. Throughout the project, we will seek to identify in detail the requirements of a solution allowing these users to:

* Educate themselves about the opportunities and requirements of an energy efficiency upgrade plan
* Identify and collectively agree on an appropriate low carbon retrofit plan
* Procure suitable assessors and contractors collectively
* Access financial products
* Progress through a streamlined upgrade process

This is a complex specification: property law, and the different needs of flat owners, freeholders, managers and local councils will have to be identified and incorporated into our development. Focusing first on the London market, this project will undertake a user-needs analysis, specify and scope the platform in detail, and engage in commercial discussions to take this much needed product to market.