Upskilling social investors on energy efficiency
Social investors often give money to help VCSE organisations improve the energy efficiency of their buildings. But because buildings come in all shapes and sizes, with multiple and often conflicting purposes, it can be tricky to understand what needs to be done and how to fund the work. For example, each room will have its own heating requirements depending on what the room is used for. Or heating will need to be adapted quickly to accommodate different activities in the same room. For example an exercise class, where it shouldn’t be too warm, followed by a mother and baby class that needs to be cosy.
The lack of understanding about what buildings require became more apparent in the wake of the pilot Energy Resilience Fund, a blended grant and loan programme for VCSE organisations. Social investors were unaware of the scale and impact of energy efficiency upgrades and were keen to know more so they can make better informed investment decisions.
The importance of social investment
VCSE organisations often struggle to finance their own building energy efficiency upgrades due to limited funds. They also struggle to get loans from traditional lenders like banks, which is why social investment is so important.
Social investment funding helps VCSE organisations avoid costly long-term problems in their buildings. Without it, many facilities suffer from preventable issues like heat loss from poor insulation and deterioration from lack of maintenance. When VCSEs can access funding through social investors, they can make lasting improvements that reduce both costs and environmental impact.
When considering funding design for energy improvements, we need to look holistically at the entire building and organisation to determine what support will be most effective.
A participant from an Access Upskilling workshop
To address this, a new upskilling programme was developed. Funded by the Access Foundation, the programme will build more understanding around the challenges facing VCSE organisations. This will lead to important conversations around making funding more accessible, flexible and appropriate for different circumstances.
Building the Access Upskilling programme
The Access Foundation supports social investors through a variety of programmes. In late 2023, the Access Foundation sent out a survey and the response highlighted a need for better understanding of energy resilience in buildings run by charities and social enterprises.
Realising there was a knowledge gap, the Access Foundation funded a new 18-month programme, designed by CSE. This programme offers comprehensive learning opportunities for investors, such as Charity Bank, Social Investment Business and Key Fund. There’s a focus on topics such as low-carbon heating, building fabric and renewables in relation to VCSEs delivered through a range of activities.
Tailored support for social investors
CSE put together a programme of support for investors so that they understand the challenges VCSEs face, the types of buildings they occupy, and appropriate improvement works. The programme includes:
- On-site learning days.
- A series of webinars.
- Peer learning sessions.
- One-to-one bespoke advice and mentoring.
- Signposting to relevant resources and further help.
A highlight was the on-site learning days, taking place in VCSE buildings in Manchester, Bristol and London. Four community buildings (two community centres, an arts and music venue and a museum) hosted workshops for participants to meet each other and apply their learning.
Participants observed challenges and solutions in a real-life setting and heard from building managers about their energy resilience journeys.
The on-site learning days were just excellent, and more people should be going on these visits. You can only understand so much from theory, case studies and reading energy efficiency assessments or reports.
Read more about each location in the case studies below.
Building confidence and informed decision making
As a result of the four site visits, the importance of maintenance within community buildings became very apparent. Social Investment Business has now released the Energy Resilience Fund which includes costs for maintenance, enabling works and staff training.
The upskilling programme has both changed and strengthened investor’s mindsets around the complexity of energy efficiency in community buildings and enabled them to make more informed decisions. Here’s what some participants had to say…
I am now better able to make decisions in an informed way.
It has given me more confidence to understand the different approaches to improving energy efficiency and the key considerations.
The live case studies in each webinar were really interesting and a great addition. They helped me understand the challenges of accessing funding for energy efficiency improvements that are experienced by the groups who manage community buildings.
Improving the funding landscape
A key takeaway from the programme has been to question the approach to funding and how this can be adapted. Participants agreed that funding schemes should be more accessible for VCSE organisations and include more understanding of the complexities of energy resilience.
Our work on this revealed these insights and areas for further improvement:
- There is a lack of funding for maintenance and exploratory works, with too much focus on innovation. Organisations need to be supported to understand how their buildings are (or aren’t) working and start by addressing the basics (e.g. leaky gutters).
- Multi-staged funding which allows for learning and recognises that each building is different and will require unique solutions is critical. Organisations must be supported to make well-informed decisions (with the time this necessitates).
- Some of the changes made to the buildings we visited which have made them healthier to be in, more comfortable, and reduced their climate impact haven’t brought direct cost savings. An emphasis on cost savings as a metric for guiding funding can restrict the potential for realising these broader benefits.
Get in touch to find out more.
Energy efficiency stories
As part of the project, participants visited community buildings to understand how complex energy efficiency can be. They gained valuable insight of what can be achieved and how.
St Werburghs Community Centre is run by St Werburghs Community Association (SWCA – a community anchor organisation, registered charity and company).
The centre has an annual footfall of 80,000 people, and provides a vital space for around 400 groups each year. These serve diverse communities, including those facing fuel poverty and financial hardship, local families, people with special educational needs and disabilities, and elders.
The Centre offers a variety of inclusive and affordable workshops, programmes and events. This includes everything from cultural events, over 40 regular weekly classes for all ages and abilities, support groups for people with addictions, a wide range of faith and spiritual groups and arts and creative classes. The site is fully accessible, with a play area, garden and on-site café. There are six rooms available for hire by the hour along with open access and public computers. Local organisations and practitioners can join as members and book rooms at reduced cost, providing an important workspace for neighbourhood groups and enterprises.
The building and challenges
The building itself is over 100 years old but non-listed. In 2010 and thanks to a £1m grant from Bristol council, a significant retrofit took place. This included a new eco-friendly four-room annexe, a new roof and double glazed windows. It also paid for internal insulation throughout, a new heating system and re-wiring, along with accessibility measures such as wider doors new accessible toilets.
The SWCA has faced several challenges since, including some damp in a north-facing room, overheating in the annexe, issues with gable ends and pointing, and leaky flat roofs.
Energy efficiency measures
The Silver Green Tourism award in 2017 acknowledge the number of measures already in place. Such as rooftop solar panels on the annexe, and sunlight tubes, guiding light from the roof into rooms with no windows at eye level.
The Centre has completed two energy audits – a Carbon Survey completed by WECA and an Independent Energy Assessment which led to securing the Energy Efficiency Capital investment. Both were a lot of work but well worth it at the end.
Next steps
In October 2024, the Centre received £212,000 from the National Lottery for a 4-year programme to improve sustainability, in addition to funding from Groundwork for additional solar PV and heating controls.
In January 2025 they recruited an Energy Efficiency Project Officer on 6-month contract funded by City Leap Community Energy Fund.
If you want to find out more, please email.
Trinity Community Arts is a community arts space. They support children, young people and families, embracing diverse backgrounds and beliefs. They hire out their space, commission emerging local artists and offer a range of theatre, music and dance events for different audiences. They have also embarked on a very ambitious project called “Save Jacob Wells Baths” which aims to restore a Grade II listed historic building back to community use.
The building and challenges
Trinity runs out of a Grade II listed redundant church, built in the early 19th century. The building has been on an energy efficiency journey for decades, with big successes and challenges along the way.
Due to the building being used for multiple purposes and often conflicting uses, they have struggled to balance the need for heating in certain parts, with the need for cooling elsewhere, however they have discovered that ventilation is a key priority for addressing this.
The heritage and listed status of the site is a big attraction but brings with it additional permission challenges. To secure vital funding to support their environmental sustainability strategic priorities, they have commissioned building and energy audits, taking forward and adapting the various recommendations. The trick here though is sourcing funding for the preparatory works necessary to get to the point of installing actual measures – a challenge shared by similar organisations.
Energy efficiency measures
So far, energy efficiency measures include:
- Solar panels installed on the south roof in 2015. This was achieved with funding by M&S Energy Fund and match funded by the Naturesave Trust.
- Additional solar panels added in 2022. Trinity is now saving £4-5k per year from solar.
- Procuring energy from a 100% green energy supplier. To replace fossil fuel energy sources with low or zero carbon energy sources.
- Installed energy efficient LED lighting. Supported by a restoration levy of £1 added to each ticket bought to cover the maintenance of the building.
- The centre also now employs a dedicated building manager who has sustainability, conservation and planned maintenance expertise.
- Implementing monitoring devices including air quality, Wi-Fi hook ups for the solar panels, smart meters and a drone camera to track their energy usage and identify areas for improvement. For Trinity, monitoring has been a crucial step that they would encourage others to take. It has helped them to troubleshoot any issues or equipment failures and ensure efficiency measures are being used to their full capacity.
If you want to find out more, contact Trinity.
The Manchester People’s History Museum (PHM) is an independent charity offering a fascinating collection of insights into the history of the UK. It’s free to visit and offers exhibitions around the historical shifts that have influenced British democracy today, such as the labour and suffragette movements, the development of trade unions and the impacts of protest and civil disobedience.
The building and challenges
The PHM is a Grade II listed building of two halves; one half is a pump house that was originally built in the early 20th century, and the other half is a modern extension from 2010. There is a glass corridor that connects the two. You can find out more about the building’s history here. Due to the complex design of their building, they have been on an interesting energy resilience journey.
They have faced several challenges on the road to becoming more energy efficient:
- General maintenance: The building’s location in central Manchester makes the building quite difficult to access for external maintenance works. They sit between a main road, a block of flats, and the river Irwell. This means that solving problems such as a small roof leak can take months and cost a small fortune.
- Humidity: As a museum with hundreds of historically significant artefacts, they have duties to maintain certain humidity levels within the building for preservation purposes. This is another factor they must keep in mind along their energy efficiency journey.
- Heat loss: Some of their rooms are too cold during the winter months, meaning a loss of income from venue hire (which plays a crucial role in the museum’s financial sustainability plan). One room is out of use for almost six months because of this!
- Venue hire: Due to issues with the building design, many of the spaces are not fully soundproof or private, which puts limits of their income maximisation – funds that could go towards making the building more energy efficient.
- Funding: There is a lack of funding for diagnosing the root causes of the building’s heat loss, and further a lack of funding for the capital expenditure (funding which is used to maintain or make upgrades to existing long-term assets).
Energy efficiency measures
Even though there are a lot of challenges, the team at the PHM have been hard at work trying to find solutions.
- They used the Ethical Property Foundation’s ‘ask an expert’ offer to diagnose some of the challenges they were facing with their building, as well as commissioning URBED (Urbanism, Environment and Design) to conduct a retrofit report.
- They have begun transitioning towards LED lighting.
- They have started troubleshooting their heating needs by installing a mechanical ventilation and heat recovery (MVHR) system. They have had serious issues with this technology which has proven ineffective, so they are looking forward to alternative options.
What’s next
PHM have ambitious goals for their building and are actively seeking funding to make them a reality. This includes a glass ceiling in their Engine Hall which will reduce the space that needs to be heated while enabling a view of the amazing ceiling and roof structure, a roof survey for solar potential, and upskilling of their staff around energy efficiency and building maintenance. They are also aware of the need to address their running costs whilst any potential works take place.
If you are in a position to offer the People’s History Museum some support to take their energy resilience journey to the next step, please get in touch.
Caxton House is a 1970s community centre in North London, where they have partnered with a local community energy group, Power Up North London, to roll out an extensive decarbonisation strategy.
They have implemented measures including an air source heat pump, window refurbishments, and MVHR (mechanical ventilation and heat recover) system. You can read up on their full journey and lessons on their website.
-
Project
CSE supports VCSE Energy Efficiency Scheme
Helping voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations (VCSEs) to deliver energy efficiency improvements.
-
Improving community buildings
Community buildings are central to a lot of our work at CSE. Well built and maintained, they can be safe, healthy, welcoming and energy-efficient spac …
-
Resource
Access report on non-profits and retrofit services
Report on the role of non-profit organisations in the provision of retrofit services in England
Community energy
