Matching a local approach to retrofit with ethical finance offers

Building on our credit union 'discovery stage' project, we are delighted to announce that we've secured funding under the government's Green Homes Finance Accelerator programme, pilotting two Credit Union loan products to meet householder demand for retrofit. The Green Home Improvement Loan will help householders making incremental upgrades to their homes using a simple, easily accessible lending product that benefits from advice and guidance from locally-based Credit Union lenders and access to a range of advice materials and offers.

The One Stop Shop for Retrofit loan targets the early adopter, deep retrofit market, pairing a bespoke lending product with holistic advice and guidance, design and construction quality assurance. This product helps already engaged and committed clients to increase the scope and scale of their retrofit package, maximising energy savings and triggering earlier works. It will involve a seamlessly integrated retrofit and finance one stop shop offer and will be piloted by People Powered Retrofit in Manchester and Loco Homes in Glasgow.

The project is starting in January 2024 and will pilot lending products later in the year. If you are a One Stop Shop or a credit union interested in piloting these products please get in touch!

More information about the wider Green Homes Finance Accelerator programme can be found here.

Project partners

• People Powered Retrofit is leading the project and leading work packages on product and service design, advice and supply chain engagement
• Carbon Co-op is acting as a technology provider, offering ICT tools and processes to support monitoring and verification
• Metro Moneywise is a payroll credit union based in Greater Manchester. They will be issuing loans in this project and coordinating the Sound Pound consortium of 8 other Greater Manchester credit unions to do likewise
• Association of British Credit Unions Limited (ABCUL) is the UK federation for credit unions, they offer sectoral knowledge and links to their credit union members. They will be leading a work package on dissemination and learning
• Manchester Care and Repair are a Home Improvement Agency who will identify householders in need for loans
• Loco Homes are a Glasgow based One Stop Shop who will be testing loans in a Scottish context
• Julie Godefroy is a London-based sustainability consultant and expert in Building Renovation Passports

You can download and read, 'A Community-Led One-Stop Shop for Finance and Retrofit' a summary of our Discovery Phase findings in this report published in October 2023.