Consortium Forming Toolkit

Summary

Forming a consortium can be an effective way to deliver the objectives of a retrofit project. By collaborating with partners and pooling resources, you can potentially benefit from economies of scale and more diverse skills and opinions, compared to developing projects as a single organisation. This toolkit provides considerations for forming a consortium and presents and explains the different options available to help you decide whether the consortium route might be suitable for your retrofit project.

Who should use the toolkit?

The toolkit provides guidance to organisations who are considering leading or entering a consortium to deliver a retrofit project. The intended audience is those individuals and teams who are engaged in the design and development of social housing retrofit programmes that facilitate the retrofit of residential properties. The organisations they represent may lack the necessary in-house expertise, influence, or project size to bid for funding, and / or deliver these programmes, as a single organisation. Typically, these tend to be smaller organisations; nonetheless, the toolkit could also be useful to larger organisations who are looking to develop area-based schemes, supporting smaller applicants with their retrofit goals and ambitions.

When should you use the toolkit?

Organisations should utilise this toolkit at the onset of contemplating bids and/or delivering a retrofit programme to evaluate the advantages of collaborating with other organisations.

How should you use the toolkit?

The toolkit has three levels of increasing detail:

• Level 1 – a brief introduction

• Level 2 – a framework for understanding the steps to consider before entering a consortium, how a consortium is managed, and what to do at the end of a contract

• Level 3 – an explanation of the key questions and guidance in developing a consortium, plus links to more detailed information

Recommended process

1. Read the information in Levels 1 and 2 to understand the basics

2. Answer the self-assessment checklist to get a picture of your current areas of strength and weakness and where you need to focus your attention

3. Use Level 3 to focus on improving your areas of weakness. It suggests key activities and provides links to additional resources