Consortium delivery: Betty and Sheila’s #GreenWarrior story
Introduction
[3 January 2024] To celebrate putting collaboration at the heart of the community, we sat down with not one, but two of our SHDF Green Warriors to discuss their experiences of a consortium-led retrofit programme.
Contents
Please note: this news article is from an archive, and may now include information, references or terminology that is out of date. Please refer to the main sections of this website for latest information.
Read Sheila and Betty's story
Sheila Wells and Betty Lanford both live in properties at Hamfallow Court, an independent living scheme in Sharpness, Gloucestershire. Sheila is a retired office worker and Betty previously worked as a hospital caterer. Both their homes were selected to be included in a retrofit programme delivered by Stroud District Council, Cheltenham Borough Homes and Two Rivers Housing.
In 2020, the organisations formed a consortium to bid for funding through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator. They were awarded £1 million to retrofit 46 homes, all rated EPC D or below. The grant enabled the consortium to install a combination of air source heat pumps, external wall insulation, loft insulation, solar panels (PV), and new windows and doors to improve the energy efficiency of its properties.
Prior to the retrofit works, Sheila and Betty’s homes both used storage heaters which only came on at night when they least needed them and left them cold during the day. Betty’s heater had originally been installed in the 1970s and was in need of an upgrade while Sheila had been relying on an electric heater borrowed from her brother-in-law.
“I’m pleased with what they’ve done and I can’t fault them at all.”
Ever since the new heating systems were installed, they have both noticed a big difference. According to Sheila, “it's nice, it’s a lot warmer now” while Betty told us “I’m pleased with what they’ve done, and I can’t fault them at all.”
We asked them about their experiences of the process and whether they would recommend it to other residents. Betty responded “definitely yes! Because it didn’t take that long to be done” and Sheila encouraged “have it done! Because it’s much better”.
Organisations that are unable to meet the 100-property threshold for Wave 2.2 can still bid for the fund by forming a consortium with other housing providers. You can view the full application criteria here.
Take a look at the following resources for more information on forming and bidding as a consortium.
- Preparing for Wave 2 2 - Where Should you Start? | SHRA Masterclass
- Successfully Managing a Consortium | SHRA Masterclass
- Consortium & Contractor Collaboration | SHRA Masterclass
- Consortium Forming | Toolkit
- The benefits of a consortium approach to social housing retrofit | Podcast
- Forming a consortium and creating a team | Article
- Collaboration vs formal consortium arrangements | Article
- Is there enough time to follow the rules? - Compliant pre-bid collaboration and procurement | Article
- SHDF success stories - Trent & Dove - forming a consortium | Article
- SHDF case study: "Together we can deliver more" | Article
- Consortium bidding – tips from a Wave 1 pioneer | Article