10071522Advancing Retrofit to Drive Net Zero in Three RiversClosedFeasibility StudiesInnovate UKThis retrofit-centred Programme, comprising two workstreams, will enable Three Rivers District Council to accelerate progress towards its net-zero targets - 2030 for Council operations, and 2045 for the District's emissions - using an innovative, data-informed, and community-focused approach. The Programme will compromise a two pronged approach to accelerating retrofit locally which will deliver economic, health and wellbeing, and environmental co-benefits. The Funding will enable the Council to employ a Net Zero Innovation and Delivery officer to plan, co-ordinate and deliver these pilot projects to maximise their success, and enable learnings from the projects to be shared and adopted by neighbouring Local Authorities in the county and region. **Project 1: Council Emissions** Following preliminary exploration of the pathways needed to get the Council's own emissions to net-zero by 2030, it is evident that emissions from the Council's buildings must be reduced drastically and rapidly through retrofit in order to attain our net-zero goal. The extremely high predicted cost of decarbonising the Council's buildings presents a major non-technical barrier to the attainment of carbon neutrality for our Council given the austere nature of Local Authority finances at present. To overcome this barrier, the first proposed Project would entail a detailed review of the green finance options available to the Council to fund the retrofit of its buildings through the acquisition of expert consultancy services, which will consider creative and innovative fiscal solutions. The Council will also work alongside our partner, Grand Union Community Energy (GUCE), to explore community-funding initiatives to decarbonise Council-owned buildings. **Project 2: District Emissions** With 28.8% of the District's emissions arising from home energy use, and approximately 2 in 3 properties in our District classified as energy inefficient, domestic decarbonisation is fundamental to the attainment of net-zero in Three Rivers, yet the majority of our households are ineligible for retrofit grants. To overcome the non-technical barriers which prevent residents from self-funding retrofit, our second Project will create a pioneering, comprehensive "Retrofit One Stop Shop" service delivered by independent charity, the National Energy Foundation. The service will offer free, expert and bespoke retrofit advice to residents, address the lack of local skilled retrofit professionals by establishing a trusted installer network, develop case studies on retrofitting different archetypes, and identify innovative funding solutions for residents. GUCE will explore the benefits of taking a community-led approach to retrofit, in synergy with the services offered by NEF.