What Landlords Can Learn From Community Led Retrofit
The power of people is overwhelming. So getting people behind your ideas is one of the core challenges of large scale retrofit.
For council and landlord led retrofit, the demand for retrofit can match the desire for a cold shower - it isn't there.
The reluctance to disturb the balance and disrupt your busy life is just the same whether you are a home owner living in your own home or a tenant in a landlords property. So how do community led schemes for retrofit, make a success of their projects?
Defining Outcomes and Using Emotion
Community retrofit initiatives like WeCanMake in Knowle West and Civic Square in Birmingham have been running some of the most important experiments in the UK. These projects work at street scale, home by home, with residents at the centre. The results are deeply relevant for the PRS, landlord portfolios and housing associations that need to deliver upgrades at speed while reducing risk, disruption and cost.
Here are the lessons that matter most.
1. Treat homes as part of a local ecosystem
WeCanMake starts with the idea that a home does not exist on its own. It sits in a street, a neighbourhood and a social network. Their retrofit model improves homes, but it also looks at how those homes can reduce local energy demand, share knowledge and unlock efficiencies when done in clusters.
Landlord takeaway:
Portfolio upgrades get faster and cheaper when grouped into blocks, streets or clusters. Bulk procurement, shared scaffolding, coordinated access and standardised specs reduce void time and cost.
2. Co design with residents before you ever touch the fabric
Civic Square’s warm block experiments show this clearly. They begin with listening sessions. Residents describe comfort problems, heating behaviour, safety worries and disruption fears. These insights reshape the entire upgrade plan. They also increase uptake because people can see their needs reflected in the design.
Landlord takeaway:
Resident engagement is not a tick box. It prevents complaints, reduces pushback and avoids retrofits that fail to deliver comfort. It also increases satisfaction scores and rebuilds trust.
3. Show the work
Both WeCanMake and Civic Square are radically transparent. They publish costs, failures, lessons, and the real numbers behind heat loss, materials, procurement and timelines. This transparency builds confidence and reduces false expectations.
Landlord takeaway:
Long term relationships with tenants improve when landlords share the retrofit journey. Short films, simple dashboards, open-day tours of early upgraded homes and accessible proof of benefits give residents confidence and cut cycles of mistrust.
4. Make retrofit visible, not abstract
One of WeCanMake’s biggest breakthroughs is using demonstrator homes. Tenants and neighbours can walk into a home with new insulation, balanced heating and lower bills. Seeing it in person changes how people feel about disruption and value.
Landlord takeaway:
Create a show home inside your stock. Use it as a community brief room. Bring tenants in. Let them feel the comfort gain. This is the fastest way to overcome the “Ach, not now” hesitation that kills heat pump and insulation uptake.
5. Replace “retrofit on the tenant” with “retrofit with the tenant”
Civic Square understands something most housing providers still miss. People reject change when it feels done to them. When they help shape it, they back it.
Landlord takeaway:
Give tenants a role in the process. This could be small choices about colours and radiators, involvement in contractor selection, or feedback sessions at design stage. Participation reduces churn, increases acceptance and cuts complaints later.
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6. Start with comfort, not kilowatt hours
Community led projects begin with lived experience. Cold rooms, mouldy corners, high bills, noise problems and draughty doors. Technical measures are chosen to solve these real issues first. Efficiency follows automatically.
Landlord takeaway:
Frame upgrades as comfort improvements. Tenants respond far better to “your living room will stay warm and your bathroom will finally dry out” than “you will save 22 percent on heat loss.”
Guidelines That Make WeCanMake Retrofits Work Faster
7. Build a local retrofit economy
WeCanMake trained local fabricators, carpenters and installers. Civic Square is doing similar work by building neighbourhood level supply chains. This shortens lead times and keeps money circulating locally.
Landlord takeaway:
Partner with local suppliers and train local installers. This builds capacity, reduces waiting times and ensures repairs and aftercare are responsive.
8. De risk the process with community intelligence
Community led retrofit succeeds because people know their streets and homes inside out. They know which blocks freeze first, which ventilation solutions always fail, which installers are trusted, and which rooms never warm up.
Landlord takeaway:
Use tenant knowledge as intelligence. Simple 20 minute surveys or listening sessions can surface the hidden issues that derail projects at scale.
9. Align retrofit with moments of life change
Community retrofit groups map when people are most open to upgrades. New baby. Post renovation. Energy bill shock. Boiler failure. Changing tenants. Social prescribing referrals. These inflection points reduce resistance.
Landlord takeaway:
Integrate retrofit into tenancy changeovers, repairs, void works and planned maintenance. Do not wait for a whole stock decarb programme. Use every window.
10. Create trust by reducing disruption
WeCanMake’s upgrades are designed to be quick. Civic Square’s experiments prioritise “gentler retrofit” techniques that minimise intrusion. Both show that people accept retrofit when disruption is predictable and short.
Landlord takeaway:
Build a low disruption protocol. Clear timelines. Daily check ins. Dust control. Guaranteed room access windows. Predictable working hours. Tenants will give you the space to work if you protect their daily routine.
11. Build long term stewardship, not short projects
Community retrofit groups take the long view. They maintain relationships, follow up with residents months later and monitor comfort, mould, and actual savings. This is what builds trust and continuous improvement.
Landlord takeaway:
Retrofit is not a one off event. It is a long term stewardship role. Build monitoring, support and post occupancy checks into your operations. This reduces call backs and lifts satisfaction.
12. Use retrofit as a social asset
One of the most overlooked lessons is that community retrofit projects increase social connection. They create shared experiences, resident networks and local pride.
Landlord takeaway:
Use the retrofit programme to create community energy champions, resident steering panels, classroom sessions and volunteer groups. The result is less friction and more ownership.
What We Know
Community led retrofit schemes like WeCanMake and Civic Square prove a simple truth. Retrofit succeeds when people feel respected, involved and informed.
For landlords, PRS owners and housing associations, it's a salutary lesson. If you borrow these principles, your upgrades will move faster, cost less and produce far fewer complaints.