Liverpool City Region

September 7 2023

Flutter Shutter – Innovation in Retrofit

Our Story

Established by 3 sisters: Rechelle Davis, Nadine Griffin and Rhianne Griffin, Flutter Shutter has been in operation within the energy sector since 2012. The business prides itself on having a range of key skills important in creating a flourishing energy efficiency initiative designed to cut carbon emissions as well as ease the financial burden on customers. Richelle is characterised as the ‘speaker’ of the company, Nadine as the brains behind the structure and organisational aspects and Rhianne as the creative force and energy to increase the appeal of their products on the younger generations.

As women in a predominantly male STEM industry, the sisters have faced many challenges over the years, from being domestic and commercial energy assessors and being taken seriously within the industry to winning contracts up and down the UK and carrying out assessments for social housing providers. However, as this story demonstrates, they have overcome the odds and proved to be successful in the industry.

The Challenge

Current statistics show that 82% of total waste from PVC windows currently goes directly to landfill. Many residents are encouraged to take up PVC as part of the installation of triple glazing into their homes. These issues are exacerbated where the windows cannot be replaced or are high rise buildings which would require the installation of scaffolding pre-installation. Flutter Shutter is offered as a product to alleviate such headaches.

Although triple glazing is seen as part of the solution, Flutter Shutter identified it as an area within energy efficiency within homes which could be improved. The concept identified and the product developed has been done so with the intention of being installed without the need to rip out windows and with the certainty that it will increase the EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) of the building.

“(Flutter Shutter) is the only internal shutter system in the world that doubles up as a fully independent window system and officially increases EPC ratings.” Director of Flutter Shutter, Nadine Griffin.

The process has proved long, and the company have had to wait 9 years for patent having finally had one issued in January 2023.

The Solution

Key solutions in creating a product which is easy to install, but also highly practical for the user meant finding solutions in key areas.

Designing a product which can be installed within a day in an average domestic home. The uniqueness of the product meant that it has undergone 9 years of vigorous testing by Liverpool John Mours University (LJMU) and the Buildings Research Establishment (BRE). Although the journey has been long and arduous, the company has seen an acceleration over the past 3 years having joined up with Centrica as a partner and funder which has been praised as a game changer in their development:

“the knowledge and expertise they have within the business and their staff who we have been able to have access to, wouldn’t have been possible without their backing, and so for that we are extremely grateful and proud to be partnered with them.”

As a route to market, Flutter Shutter are currently going through an application process with Ofgem to become approved under ECO4 with British Gas as the sponsor. Ensuring that opportunities to include the product as part of essential funding streams for fuel poor households is an avenue that any aspiring innovative retrofit measure entrepreneurs must maximise as part of their business plan.

Additionally, Flutter Shutter have worked closely to test and pilot the product. LJMU have tested the product in their exemplar houses on site at their Byrom Street Campus in Liverpool. LJMU also carried out a full working pilot scheme with us during 2021 – 2022, where we installed Flutter Shutter™ into 5 properties that belong to Livv Housing Group. The pilot scheme run for 9 months, and we installed sensors in two rooms within the property 3 months prior to installation and then installed Flutter Shutter™ in every room apart from one for the remaining 6 months. This allowed us to compare the heat loss in the properties prior to and post installation of Flutter Shutter™, which showed a retention in heat loss post installation. It is hoped that the company can begin to deliver the product to 15,660 properties per year.

Having the correct support from academia that have suitable programmes to ensure that no stone is unturned in discovering whether an idea is viable or not is essential to the success of products in this sector. There is so much red tape and every step to mitigate any future issues is part of the solution. It goes without saying that financial backing is a must with an innovative product and equally as important is finding the right funder/investors for your business.

UrbanScape

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Our Story

In 2021, when I was 14, I set up Mulgrave Street Action Group (MSAG) as a community interest with some help from other people. MSAG is led a group of directors, including myself, and we also benefit from lots of ongoing input from the local community.

The aim of starting MSAG was to reduce fly tipping in my local area by building a community garden on a fly tipping hotspot. After two years of campaigning, some funding from Liverpool City Region Community Environment Fund, several public consultations and lots of pushing, UrbanScape was named and launched on the 6th April 2023!

Along the way, we have worked on a plethora of projects, including bringing planters to the postcode, hiring skips for fly tipping management and providing free food-growing plants for people.

The Challenge

Our main challenge was being let down by five different contractors for a variety of reasons including underdelivering, overcharging and being unable to fill out paperwork. This resulted in MSAG taking the reins themselves and project managing. Don’t give up!

Another challenge that we overcame was finding funding. This was a struggle for a long period of time until LCR (Liverpool City Region) opened their fund and we successfully won a portion. Having a committed team, a plan and lots of support from the community helped get us over the line with our LCR funding bid.

UrbanScape is something that could be replicated in another area for lots of reasons. It has shown that it has a great positive impact on the community, including increasing socialising, reducing isolation, improving air quality, increasing biodiversity and reducing fly tipping (which was our original aim!).

Our Solution

UrbanScape is a multipurpose outdoor community garden which provides a place for the community to be mindful, appreciate nature and get outdoors. From this new space, we will be delivering a variety of projects very shortly, which will further increase the value to the community here in L8. Our work will help increase biodiversity and reduce fly tipping in the local communities. A knock on effect of this will allow people to socialise more and reduce isolation in the community.

June 2 2023

Plus Dane Housing: Norwood & Gordon Court

Rhys Owen

Our Story

We are a housing association with a strong social purpose. We employ almost 600 people and have more than 13,500 homes across Merseyside and Cheshire, and are passionate about the positive impact that we can have on the communities our customers live in.

The Challenge

The way we do things in the housing sector is changing rapidly to meet looming decarbonisation targets across the industry. There is a major focus now on making our homes as energy efficient as they can be – for the environment and our customers dealing with the cost-of-living crisis.

The work at Norwood and Gordon Court is our first major retrofit project, involving the installation of a ground source heat pump and major refurbishment of existing apartment blocks – which we had identified as among our least energy efficient homes.

It is a pilot project that has great potential to shape the way we work in future as we head towards becoming a carbon neutral organisation.

As such, it was an unknown for us, and required extensive planning and preparation.

It was a big ask of our customers in these schemes to effectively live on a building site for six months. We are grateful for their patience and understanding as we underwent such a major transformation of their homes, and hope they see the benefits now the work is done. Customer engagement needs to be a priority in these situations – they need to be involved from the start and be part of the decision-making process, as well as being kept informed of progress or any setbacks.

Our Solution

We were successful in securing £2m of grant funding through the first wave of Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, supported by Mayor Steve Rotheram and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.

The work involved boring two 140m holes underground, to install a ground source heat pump to provide heating and hot water to more than 40 flats. In addition, the blocks have undergone a refurbishment of communal areas, and the most noticeable change is the installing of external insulation, which has seen the three buildings in the complex transformed with a white render that has covered the brick work. Cavity insulation, new windows and new patio doors in some ground floor flats are among the other retrofit works carried out at the scheme to improve energy efficiency throughout the buildings.

The flats previously relied on inefficient and costly storage heaters, which have been completely replaced with the new system. Almost all of the residents agreed to have the new system installed in their homes, and those who did not will still be able to connect to it in future.

Barry Callow, director of repairs, said: “We identified Norwood Court and Gordon Court as some of our poorest performing homes with regards to energy efficiency, so they were ideal for undertaking this pilot scheme. Storage heaters are not only inefficient but expensive for customers to run, and we are delighted to have been able to offer a sustainable alternative in the form of a ground source heat pump.

“Sustainability is a massive priority for the housing sector, and we are pleased that is also the first major project that sees us moving away from gas central heating to offer low carbon technology in our homes going forward.”
We worked with designers and retrofit specialists Constructive Thinking and contractors SBS on the project.

Want to find out more?

To find out more about Plus Dane Housing, follow the link below:

www.plusdane.co.uk

April 28 2023

Catalyst: Net Zero interactive exhibit

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Our Story

The exhibit was developed at the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre which features a range of interactive exhibits that bring subjects to life from Science, Maths, Engineering and Technology to the Humanities and Geography.

The exhibit is a three-level, fun-filled game which teaches all ages about the ways in which we can help tackle climate challenge and deliver a net zero future. It takes players on a journey from reliance on fossil fuels and gas to a greener future in 2050 where hydrogen is used to power industry, fuel our cars and heat our homes. The game is based on the North West and some of the projects anticipated to be delivered in the region over the coming years, including carbon capture and storage beneath Liverpool Bay as part of HyNet North West.

The Challenge

One of the challenges we found with the exhibit was although it was technically accurate, we had to make sure it was accessible, fun and engaging for young people. To manage this, a developer who had extensive experience of creating similar exhibits was brought in to help deliver the project. A steering group of North West Hydrogen Alliance members was set up to provide technical and expert input and sign off the exhibit at various stages.

During the research phase, other exhibits were reviewed within the museum to ensure lessons were learned for the new exhibit. Various options were identified with the chosen option using the existing ‘Compound Creator’ exhibit. This also meant that the existing screen could be re-used, reducing the need, and carbon impact, of the new technology.

Our Solution

The game is displayed on a large touch screen which shows how existing industrial processes, transport and homes release CO2. As the user progresses through the decades to 2050 they can introduce low carbon forms of energy generation, such as hydrogen and renewables, which reduce the CO2 impact. The aim of the game is to reach net zero by 2050 by reducing the amount of CO2 released.

During the game, pop-ups set various challenges and can be used to showcase North West projects which demonstrate to the user how the region is working towards a net zero future. This North West context is important in educating the user on what’s happening in the region to reach net zero, with the aim to inspire people to find out more and perhaps even look into a career in net zero.

The net zero exhibit was sponsored by the North West Hydrogen Alliance (NWHA) – a collection of over 30 businesses that are driving the establishment of a hydrogen economy in the North West. Their goal is to raise the profile of the role hydrogen can play in meeting net zero targets. The NWHA worked closely with the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre and Museum Trust Ltd (Catalyst), a registered charity, in the development of the exhibit.

The exhibit was launched at a stakeholder event with speakers including Cllr Gill Wood, Deputy Portfolio Holder for Climate Emergency & Renewable Energy at the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. The event was attended by Year 6 pupils at Lunt’s Heath Primary School in Widnes who were the first to test run the exhibit. A press release was issued with the launch covered in local and trade media.

Want to find out more?

To find out more about the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre exhibit, follow the link below:

Catalyst Science Discovery Centre – A unique interactive museum for all ages.

Volunteers Abdul and Jo fixing QR codes to the Marker Posts

April 28 2023

Princes Park Tree Marker Post Project

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Our Story

Friends of Princes Park (FOPP) is a project funded by the Liverpool City Region Community Environment fund based in the heart of Liverpool 8; a diverse by deprived inner-city area.

FOPP is a group of park user and local people who work in partnership with the council to maintain and improve the park for the benefit of people and wildlife. Over the last 15 years we have planted more than 4,000 trees, and we have increasingly focused on improving biodiversity in the park and encouraging people to better understand it.

We have also made efforts to pass on information about the work we’ve done as easily as possible to stakeholders, especially to young people and school children. We want to encourage young people to better understand the trees and appreciate their value.

Over the last 6 months, FOPP volunteers, nearly all of whom are local residents, have installed oak marker posts by each of the 150 specimen trees, providing accessible information about each tree. We have also produced a tree map which is now displayed on our newly refurbished notice board with more announcements coming soon.

The Challenge

The key thing we considered with this project was to produce easy to access and easy to understand information boards that were engaging and informative. However many external factors came into play which presented obstacles in the project’s development.

We have always been keen to let people know the identity of the trees we have planted. In the past we tried producing a black & white map with a key. However, it caused problems for people who struggled to read maps, which limited the scope of our reach.

We also tried attaching QR codes to individual specimen trees. The QR code for each tree was unique and linked specifically to information about that tree on our website. The codes were printed, laminated and stapled to the relevant tree however they weren’t robust to withstand the typical British weather and general wear and tear.

Following that, we found a much more durable solution, which led to our project to install engraved marker posts. We couldn’t easily engrave a QR code into a wooden post, so instead we gave each tree a three-digit reference number engraved onto each post, alongside the QR code.

We then attached a printed notice to each code explaining how to find out more information about that tree, by scanning the QR code (if you have a smart phone) or by noting the tree’s number and identifying it using the map and key displayed on each of the noticeboards in the park.

We realise that some people don’t find it easy to navigate their way round our website – so we are in the process of putting together a step-by-step guide on how to get from the QR code on the marker post to detailed information about that tree.

Our Solution

Princes Park is well used by many different communities and during the Covid pandemic has been used by local people to exercise, rest, picnic and enjoy the wildlife.

Our project has received positive feedback from local schools about our next move, which is to make a guide for schools as to how they can use the tree markers for educational purposes, for example by learning about different species or playing guessing games with the trees and then looking up the information.

The headteacher at Belvedere Academy, which is situated just next to the park, spoke of how the pupils have become more climate aware and encouraged them to take more ownership on the difference they can make to the world following the implementation of the tree markers.

Unity Youth Club in Toxteth, recently came on a walk to look at the trees and the various educational elements we’ve added to them. Julie Smith, a youth worker with the club, mentioned how the children increased their awareness of how important the trees are for the park.

In addition to producing the education pack for schools we will be increasing the information on our website about the wildlife associated with the trees and organising a series of walks to look at the trees and wildlife in the park.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CLICK HERE.

April 26 2023

Wildflowers on the Puddydale

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Our Story

If you have seen a wildflower meadow in bloom, I am sure you have appreciated it, whether it be for the beauty of the flowers or the habitat and sustenance it provides for insects, butterflies and other wildlife. This was what we wanted to create in the middle of a built up town environment.

We wanted to explain to others the importance of creating these food sources for our disappearing insect life and encourage others to copy our example, whether it be in their garden or a public space, in their shopping or commercial area. A wildflower area is a great alternative to the manicured areas of bedding plants that are more common in urban areas. It is also much appreciated by many, adding to health and wellbeing of communities. So many passers-by stopped to admire the flowers in bloom and read our signs.

The Heswall Joint Rotary Environment Group was formed not only to bring together the resources of three local Rotary Clubs for the support of our environment, but to reach out to others in our community to join with us in our environmental projects.

The Challenge

In the early stages of the project, we seeked advice from Wirral Wildlife and New Ferry Butterfly Park who helped us analyse the soil type, prepare the ground correctly, and purchase seed to suit the soil.

Effective engagement with the local council allowed us to get permission to use a piece of Council land on a local area in central Heswall, known as the Puddydale. Establishing relationships with key stakeholders is vital for a project like this to succeed. It allowed us to reach out to volunteers who played a huge role in helping carry out the work.

There was a slight worry that the site could be victim to vandalism due to courteous temporary signage, however local residents were great in helping manage the site and prevent such damage from happening.

Our Solution

Having been successful in obtaining a grant from the Liverpool City Region Environment Fund, we had to complete the project between March and October 2021, which worked well with the growing season. The turf was removed from an area of approximately 100 sq metres, the ground rotavated, and then thoroughly raked to prepare for the seed.

By sowing a combination of annual and perennial wildflower seeds, a good show of flowers was achieved this year, with more to follow in 2022 and 2023 as the perennial flowers also come into bloom. A fair amount of physical work was involved but with a good number of volunteers in short shifts, the workload was not onerous. Fortunately the weather was on our side on all our working days!

This was an excellent small project that could be copied in any urban environment where a patch of land can be found. It has been appreciated by so many residents, provided a great source of food for pollinators and other insects, and helped to get members of the community working together. We hope that the interpretive panel will continue to inform and encourage others to take similar action.

April 26 2023

Paddington Village Heat and Energy Network

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Our Story

The Paddington Village Heat and Energy Network is a key player in proving innovative and sustainable heat solutions across the city of Liverpool, connecting the Paddington Village site and other new and future buildings to the decarbonisation route map for the city.

The £35 million Spine building in the heart of Paddington Village is one of the UK’s healthiest buildings. It is designed to increase the health and wellbeing of the people who work and visit there with its internationally recognised WELL standard.

As we move towards a zero-carbon economy, providing sustainable heat solutions for businesses to tap into is crucial to allow densely populated city centres to decarbonise and help reach the wider national Net Zero targets.

The Paddington Village is a £1 billion flagship development site at the eastern gateway to Liverpool’s thriving Innovation District, providing state-of-the-art education, tech, science and health spaces.

The Challenge

A huge challenge for this project was navigating the surge in energy prices post-covid and having to deal with a hugely volatile and unpredictable market. This industry requires patience and flexibility to allow projects come tor fruition and being able to deal with unexpected set backs.

The Solution

The building is heated by a low-carbon heating exchange based within the ground floor of the adjacent new 14-storey car park (which will also provide heat to the other Paddington Village buildings either under construction or planned), using 30-50% less energy. The smart building management system regulates the temperature and lighting, responding to external lighting conditions and saving energy by turning lights off when rooms are not being used.

LED lighting saves 50% of energy costs compared to traditional lighting. Programmable lift technology minimises journeys by empty lifts, and there are posters to encourage people to use the signature ‘Spine’ staircase.

The design of its internal spaces, glazing features, and the use of plants and water inside creates a calming working environment for people that work and visit there.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CLICK HERE.

April 26 2023

Trees for Climate in Wirral

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Our Story

Trees for Climate is a national woodland creation programme, part of the Government’s £500m Nature for Climate Fund aiming to, at least, treble planting rates in England by the end of this Parliament (2024).

The Mersey Forest is one of 12 Community Forests across England delivering the programme, transforming landscapes and communities across Merseyside and Cheshire.

Launched in November 2020, the programme is significant in the Government’s commitment to address climate change and carbon mitigation. Across Cheshire and Merseyside, nearly 44 hectares of new woodland has been created in the last year, in urban parks and green spaces and on private land and farmland.

In the Wirral, The Mersey Forest team works closely with Wirral Council to identify suitable land to plant trees, as part of the Council’s Tree, Hedgerow and Woodland Strategy which aims to double Wirral’s tree canopy over the next ten years by planting 210,000 trees.

The Challenge

We found that maximising the collaboration between the local council, communities, and organisations like The Mersey Forest was critical to the project’s success, as we were able establish good relationships with key stakeholders and gave us good advice and extra pairs of hands when needed. Early engagement with the landowner ensures a lengthy timeline to identify the best possible site.

The advice we got from the Community Forest helped us in being able to deliver the project on time, and with actively involving local communities in the delivery of the planting encourages a sense of place and ownership for those involved.

However there’s always room to improve; for our future Trees for Climate schemes in Wirral, we will be increasing our public consultation to ensure that more of our communities understand the purpose of the planting and have an opportunity to take part. We will also be delivering the planting without the use of plastics and application of herbicides to help address the climate and environmental emergency which has been declared in Wirral.

Our Solution

Leasowe Loop, a former horse grazing site, was a location selected by the council, with under a hectare of land prepared and planted. A mixture of coniferous, shrub and native softwood trees were planted using funding provided through the Trees for Climate programme.

The project’s success is measured on the amount of carbon it is predicted to sequester over its lifetime as it converts atmospheric carbon dioxide into biomass.

Larger sites are also registered and validated through the government recognised Woodland Carbon Code, this ensures that the amount of carbon estimated to be stored is verified to international standards for carbon sequestration projects. For the Leasowe site, which is used in this example, the trees planted will store approximately 291 tonnes of carbon dioxide over 100 years.

The community have also been instrumental to the success of this project and over 80 volunteer days were organised over a five-month period by the Wallasey Tree Planting Group, ensuring the trees were protected, mulched and weeded. Training and support have been provided by The Mersey Forest Team for these sessions.

Besides the obvious benefits of improving air quality and reducing noise pollution, the trees will be a valuable carbon store and provide a haven for biodiversity – addressing Wirral’s Climate Emergency challenge.

The site has had many challenges with weeds around the saplings growing at a phenomenal rate during the warm and wet spring/summer. A team of volunteers has turned up most weekends to help tackle these with training support and tools provided by The Mersey Forest Team. The group intends to take the planting challenge to new sites in the coming years using trees they are growing at their nearby nursery site.

In total over 4,300 trees were planted on this site. When fully established, it is estimated that these will store an estimated 291 tonnes of carbon over 100 years.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CLICK HERE.

April 26 2023

The High Park Green Spaces Project

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Our Story

High Park in Southport is in the top 10% deprived areas in the country with poor health and life opportunities for local residents. Within High Park there are 3 underused green spaces. The aim of this project was to encourage the positive and sustainable use of these spaces with community involvement. The areas parks were predominantly used either as football pitches or children’s play areas, with little to interest older residents or those interested in environmental sustainability.

There was little in the way of flowering trees, plants and planters in the park spaces and, when surveyed, residents felt that introducing these would have a positive effect on not only biodiversity, but health and wellbeing through increased usage of the park spaces.

During this project we worked with a number of key partners such as the Green Sefton’s Natural Alternatives, Grounds Maintenance and Tree teams, Mersey Forest and local councillors to effectively guide the intervention in the area.

The Challenge

In order to foster community ownership and engagement of the area’s public spaces, it was necessary to support the formation of a ‘Friends of High Park Green Spaces’ community group. This allowed local residents to lead on and manage aspects of the project including procurement of appropriate materials from local sources and the overall planning and design of the intervention.

While some questioned the survivability of adult trees and planters placed in the area’s parks – the guiding coalition of local volunteers who helped throughout the process and eventually constructed assets such as the planters, arguably, increased the survivability of the intervention.

This was further exemplified by the engagement of young people in the area who were readily involved in planting and maintaining the spaces throughout the duration of the project. We feel this aided towards challenging negative perceptions of local residents (both of themselves and externally) in their capacity to enact positive change within their community.

As such, we feel that any intervention in a public green space should heavily involve local resident support in both the planning and design process.

Our Solution

The funding received through the Liverpool City Region Community Environment Fund allowed us to fund this sustainable project for the local community to help develop and promote their area. To ensure sustainability, the project is supported by staff from Brighter Living Partnership’s High Park: Think Family, Think Community project, a 5-year National Lottery funded project ending in 2024.

The Liverpool City Region Community Environment Fund allowed us a meaningful stimulus to kick start more interest in the local parks. Without this funding, the cost of purchasing adult trees would have been too prohibitive for smaller community groups. Purchasing older trees rather than whips has provided a much more meaningful and visible change to the park which was vital to foster community interest area-wide.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CLICK HERE.

April 14 2023

Procure Plus

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Our Story

The creation of Procure Plus Holdings (PP) and a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) was born out of a need for a bespoke, product targeted framework for goods and materials for the emerging retrofit market. This enabled the DPS to embed a social value target.

The Local Authority Delivery Phase 2 (LAD2) was a major £300 million programme to fund home retrofit in England, a partnership with the Local Energy North West Hub (hub) also helped deliver a £52 million regional programme in March 2022.

The project funded energy-saving improvements to the homes of people throughout the North West region, helping tack fuel poverty, deliver cost-effective carbon savings, support clean growth, and ensure homes are thermally comfortable, efficient, and well-adapted to climate change.

The hub supported the creation of Procure Plus, providing a scalable, compliant route to market for authorities across the North West to access goods and services. Procure Plus was able to help the DPS deliver excellent value for money, a managed service, and meaningful and quantifiable social value.

Working with the companies, sub-contractors, and construction related supply chains, Procure Plus identifies entry level job opportunities in the area, then work with the local community to ensure these go to the right people in the right areas.

The challenge

Being able to deliver real social value whilst also delivering an excellent procurement and management service is what sets the partnerships apart, and meant the Hub has been able to deliver even more value for local communities, but it didn’t go without its challenges.

Before striking this partnership, we had to make sure that we both understood one another’s requirements and skill set, meaning effective communication was critical initially, and throughout the project. We also had to make sure the partner had the experience and know-how to deliver and manage procurements at this scale and complexity.

The multi-faceted nature of the project and the procurement process meant that a partner must be able to provide an end-to-end solution and support in the delivery and integrating real social value.

Given we were working on a one-year funding cycle, it presented a challenge for the programme to provide sufficient funding for a typical apprenticeship, which lasted two years in length.

Our solution

Procure Plus’s model enabled short courses to be offered to individuals within the community, moving people swiftly into employment. Typically for this programme, training included carbon literacy, working at heights, asbestos awareness and health and safety certificates.

Support is offered throughout the first six months of employment, identifying opportunities for candidates to undertake further training and gain trade-based qualifications. to develop careers within construction. Procure Plus seeks to work with those organisations who support people from many backgrounds including; the long term unemployed; ex-offenders; BAME; NEET young people; disabled people; over 50’s; people with a history of homelessness; and, people leaving the care system.

One of our proudest stories is 19 year old Declan who, since he was 11, has been in and out of care. Having attended a community programme as part of the partnership between Procure Plus and the Hub, Declan was able to gain his CSCS Green Card, Health and Safety level 1, and Environmental Ambassador Accreditation.

This gave him an opportunity to apply for a job with a local business completing retrofit works on residential properties locally. Fast forward to now, and Declan has remained in employment and has been offered funding for further training and qualifications from his employer, as well as moving out of temporary accommodation and start a new life!

In total, the project has enabled 30 people to find employment, 44 trained in retrofit jobs, and also create a housing retrofit supply chain and carbon literacy across the Liverpool City Region.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CLICK HERE.

Stunning wildflower meadows sown by local children have transformed derelict land in Liverpool City Region - bringing colour and nature to urban communities.The ten sites - now in full bloom - were created by the Head North for Beauty project with a £49,000 grant from the £500,000 Liverpool City Region Community Environment Fund, established by Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram. Picture Jason Roberts

March 8 2023

Liverpool City Region: Community Environment Fund

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Our Story

We know that the most vulnerable in our society have been the most negatively affected by the COVID pandemic. They are also the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate and ecological breakdown and are often those who are least likely to have contributed to the human causes of the emergency.

Too many do not have access to green space, cheap healthy food and live in areas with air quality problems. As a result, in 2020, we set up the Community Environment Fund which aimed to support communities to engage in a range of economic activities, as well as encouraging long-term behavioural change, improving the environment in the LCR, and aid a green recovery by assisting organisations to expand their good work.

The idea was born from the success of The Year of the Environment in 2019, with the Metro Mayor pledging £500k for community environment projects which kickstarted the momentum for the project. This fund was emphasised during the COVID pandemic, with many people appreciating natural spaces and renewing their sense of community.

These funded projects will form part of a wider ambition from the LCR Combined Authority to enact plans to become net zero by 2040, by improving green spaces, reducing air pollution, and improve the health and wellbeing of the people in the LCR.

The Challenge

Before starting, we knew it was important to seek guidance from fellow organisations who’ve ran successful environmental funds in the past. As such, we had conversations with Mersey Forest, Mersey Recycling, and the Waste Authority who gave us invaluable advice. We also looked at fund guidance documents for best practice and for a little inspiration.

During the application process, we received many questions from potential groups, so we then held 3 ‘Meet the Funder’ events. Despite a good attendance, the challenge we found was that there was a low level of applications from 3 of our 6 districts, which led to a low number of funded projects in those areas.

Given the vast scale of community initiatives already out there, we focused the funding through two ‘streams’ initially. £20-£50k for projects in two or more districts, and £5k-£20k for larges projects in a single district. We then introduced a third stream for smaller place-based projects of £300-£1.5k. The streams were useful to score similar groups of projects together, but in some instances caused confusion as to what stream some groups could apply for, which caused problems during the scoring process. We are considering removing the streams to not limit the amount each group could apply for.

Our Solution

In total, 58 projects across the region were funded through the £500k across the following 9 themes: Climate change and resilience; Air quality and transport; Water; Accessible green spaces, habitats and biodiversity; Waste and resources; Health and wellbeing; Carbon and environmental literacy; Energy reduction; and Food and agriculture.

Some of the projects include Head North for Beauty, Pollinators and Carbon Capture; 10 lush wild flowering meadows based in deprived communities in the LCR. Carbon Literate Communities was a carbon literacy training programme for local community groups, which supported them to turn their communities into local carbon action groups.

Restore St Helens focused on upcycling furniture in deprived areas, reducing the number of items ending up in landfill and supporting individuals. We also helped fund the green and blue corridor improvements for the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in Kirkdale, as well as helping Cycle of Life provide cycling training and equipment provision for all ages to encourage a change of behaviour when it comes to transport. S.O.B Save Our Bees was a local bee garden which helped educate the local community on the importance of bees and the vital role they play in our planet’s ecology.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CLICK HERE.

March 8 2023

Liverpool City Region: Green Homes Grant Retrofit

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Our Story

The impact that housing has on the Climate Emergency through emissions from our homes is both a priority for the LCR, and as a nation. On average, the city region’s housing stock contributes 30% of our total carbon emissions. Coupled with the fact that 14% of the region is in fuel poverty, the need for a fair and greener future has never been higher.

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority is committed to addressing long-standing fuel poverty challenges and ensuring homes are warm and healthy, as well as supporting ambitions towards a Net Zero carbon city region. Working with the Local Energy North West Bug, the Local Authority Delivery Scheme has already made a start, targeting retrofit measures in the city region’s most deprived neighbourhoods.

However we still have a lot of work to do; we estimate that around 65% of our homes are EPC Band D or worse, and as a third of our emissions come from our homes, energy efficiency improvements and the decarbonisation of our housing stock are essential aspects in mitigating the impacts of climate change.

We believe that addressing challenges in neighbourhoods where energy efficiency isn’t up to standard, we can then tackle the pressing issues of fuel poverty, deprivation, and poor health.

The Challenge

As the scheme targets those in our most deprived neighbourhoods, it was important to make sure this scheme was in the right hands at every stage. We worked via the Local Energy North West Hub and with Prodcure Plus – an organisation specialising in construction frameworks – to establish a framework of assessors and installers to meet our LAD2 and future retrofit needs.

This allowed us to make sure we procured the correct delivery partner, and led to appointing Next Energy to lead the generation and design on properties and to carry out the assessment and installation. Equally, we knew it was vital to engage with local authorities to ensure the success of these schemes. Effective communication about the properties and needs of local authorities’ residents allowed funding to be allocated most effectively.

By speaking with the local authorities and identifying properties most suitable for retrofit, it allowed us to identify the fastest route to ensuring that the funding made a transformative impact on the energy efficiency of the homes.

Without working in this collaborative way, we wouldn’t of been able to deliver the project at pace and up to the required standards for the funding, and most importantly, our residents.

Our Solution

Our aim to is reach our target of 1,120 homes retrofitted across the LCR through the £11.38 million investment, and to improve the energy efficiency of as many of these homes as possible up to an EPC Banc C or above. This is done through a fabric first approach, such as insulation, homes in EPC bands D-G can be helped to Band C, with work done to ensure future measures can be implemented easily.

Our collaborative approach to the project has allowed us to establish effective lines of communication with funding and supply partners, and put us in good stead for future funding bids.

As a result, we were selected to lead on the North West’s Green Home Grant Local Authority Programme and will receive £52 million to neighbouring local authorities across the North West to improve the energy performance of 7,000 homes. The £52 million will be split across the five North West regions, based on population, fuel poverty and the energy performance of their housing stock.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CLICK HERE.

March 8 2023

Liverpool City Region: Net Zero Public Engagement

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Our Story

The Liverpool City Region (LCR) Combined Authority (CA) has a target to reach Net Zero carbon emissions across the region by 2040. As the LCR changes to a low carbon future, we wanted to gain an insight into how these changes may impact the lives of the public living in, working in, and visiting the LCR over the next 19 years, by testing our visions.

The general public were engaged during the summer of 2021 using an online engagement website and workshops. In addition, young people, aged 16 and under, were engaged using a specially designed survey and workshops.

It was a very useful event to gage local opinion and what areas we should focus on. It also allowed us to understand the worries or concerns people have, helping us understand where there may be difficulties bringing people on the journey to Net Zero and where we may need to look into solutions to support those within the LCR to reduce their carbon emissions.

The Challenge

This was a huge research and engagement project. A number of teams across the LCRCA worked together to plan, develop, and communicate the findings. We also worked with a number of community suppliers including Maximum Edge, Firestarters, and Cycle for Life, to engage with young people and find those hard to reach groups.

It was important for us to not lead thoughts or answers, and to communicate that all opinions were valid. Allowing for open responses and undertaking workshops, whilst time consuming for analysis, it was insightful and interesting, raising points that we may never have heard.

We knew that it was important to design different material to engage different audiences, therefore we teamed up with Wirral Youth Voice who gave us some great help in making sure the workshops were engaging and understandable to that age of audience.

It’s also important to consider making upfront decisions as to what data you may want to cut out bt looking at certain attributes and to make sure the correct platform is selected for data collection. We used a third-party website for the main survey, however, as they do not share the protected characteristic linked to the data, we were not able to analyse the results to identify any issues that affect some groups more than others.

Our Solution

In total we have 1,217 responses across four themes, Home, Neighbourhoods, Transport and Travel, and In the Workplace. 29% of responses were from young people.

From the surveys, 7 in 10 people agreed we need to reduce carbon emissions. 88% of those in the youth workshops felt we should follow the data to make the biggest changes in the fastest amount of time, and just over 2 in 3 of those in the general population workshops think the same.

However, despite a high agreement of people thinking action is needed, only 46% of all respondents asked felt they have good or very good knowledge about the actions needed to reduce carbon emissions. Additionally, apart from the visions around homes, rates of positivity regarding the visions put forward are low.

The feedback also raised some interesting concerns that we hadn’t initially thought of. There was a sizable amount of people that were concerned about the cost of the changes and the potential impact on prices of items and a worry that the changes will put up new barriers for people and businesses’ behaviours. There was also concern around the idea of a ‘one size fits all approach’ may not be the best way forward.

Whether positive or negative, the event was a huge success given the numbers of responses we received, and a reasonably high hit rate of under-16 engagement. The data will be invaluable for the LCRCA as we move towards a Net Zero world, and will provide the basis on how we can deliver that.