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The Building Retrofit Pilot
What is the Building Retrofit Pilot?
The Retrofit Pilot forms part of the wider Trailblazer Devolution Deal for the West Midlands Combined Authority. This new approach between national government and the WMCA will devolve funding for grant-funded retrofit schemes to a local level, among other key Net Zero policy areas.
Opening for applications in June 2025 the Pilot is aimed at retrofitting homes and public buildings to drive the transition to net zero, healthy and sustainable buildings across the region. The Pilot will take a focus on abating fuel poverty in all homes (particularly social housing) and decarbonising public buildings.
The Pilot will provide funding to Local Authorities, Housing Associations and Public Sector Organisations to support essential upgrades to buildings, making them more energy-efficient, reducing fuel costs and helping to meet climate goals.
The Pilot is designed to boost confidence, capacity and growth within the retrofit market by delivering £167 million of funding over three years initially and channelling investment into local needs. The programme will encourage place-based, cross-tenure and holistic approaches that use innovations and take a joined-up view of the local area.
West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker has launched the region’s most ambitious plan yet to improve living standards and tackle fuel poverty for thousands of low-income private and social households.
Up to 14,000 of the oldest and coldest homes in the region will be upgraded to make them warmer and cheaper to run. This is thanks to £130m of housing investment secured by the Mayor as part of an unprecedented shift in power, funding and responsibility from Westminster to the West Midlands. The funding will also unlock further investment in housing of around £80 million from councils and their housing providers.
Over £36 million will also be invested to ease pressure on the finances of councils, schools and colleges and other public sector organisations, such as the NHS and emergency services, by making their buildings cheaper to heat and power.
How will the Retrofit Pilot work?
The Pilot will move away from classically competitive programmes to a more allocative approach. Funding will be calculated on a fair-share basis and using the same formulae for working out the WMCA’s Integrated Settlement. Eligible organisations include Local Authorities, Housing Associations and Public Sector Organisations in the WMCA County (constituent metropolitan authorities).
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What is the Pilot replacing?
The Pilot will replace three centrally-funded retrofit programmes:
- Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (WH:SHF)
- Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH:LG)
- Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS)
Those eligible organisations will, therefore, not be able to apply for the national scheme and must draw down on funding through the WMCA.
The Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) 2 and SHDF Wave 2.1 are still active and being delivered through the WMCA. However, from the completion of works in 2025, all delivery and ongoing support will shift to the Pilot.
Click here to see our page on SHDF.
Click here to visit our pages on HUG2 and HUG2 for Landlords.
To access funding, project or programme proposals will have to be made. These will likely require similar details to the national schemes with particular exceptions and additional requirements to suit a more flexible local delivery. Accessing funding will run in two stages:
- Project Development – including, preparatory works for recruiting buildings, tenant and community engagement, retrofit assessments / feasibility studies and monitoring and data collection.
- Project Delivery – including, procurement and contracting, measure installation (energy efficiency, low-carbon heating systems, on-site generation, and other measures).
Funding project development as a separate stage to delivery will help the region and supply chain to have sight of a robust pipeline of projects, increase project preparedness before drawing down on delivery funding and support targeted place-based, cross-tenure retrofitting at scale.
What are the benefits of Retrofit?
- Energy Savings - By improving the energy efficiency of buildings, the Retrofit Pilot will help reduce households and public sector energy bills.
- Climate Goals - Retrofit projects are a key step in cutting carbon emissions and making the region more sustainable.
- Economic Growth - The programme supports jobs and investment in the local retrofit market, helping to build a resilient, skilled workforce.
- Innovation and Capacity Building - with flexible funding, the Pilot encourages new ideas and helps build regional expertise in energy efficiency solutions.
The Retrofit Pilot is more than just a funding initiative; it's a step towards a more sustainable and energy-efficient future for the West Midlands.
Retrofit Pilot Resource Library
Collection of guidance and information on the Building Retrofit Pilot.
Please submit all applications or documents to the following email address: Devolved.Retrofit@WMCA.org.uk.
WMCA Managed Support Service
Whether you are new to retrofit projects or a seasoned professional, there is a wide range of technical assistance and managed support available from the WMCA to help with delivery. To find out more, please click here.
Retrofit Action Week 2025 launch video
Presentation from the Retrofit Pilot team, covering the overall scheme approach, it's design and how funding allocation and drawdown will work.
Contact Us
To learn more about the Devolved Retrofit Pilot, please contact the team through the below email:
Sign up for the next West Midlands Retrofit Network event here:
Want to sponsor our next session? Express your interest and click here.