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Efficiency North worked alongside climate solutions charity Ashden, the National Retrofit Hub and the UK Green Building Council to help develop the Greener Homes and Good Local Jobs Guidance; a national resource designed to help housing associations and local authorities use procurement more effectively to maximise social value through retrofit programmes. The guidance focuses on creating local jobs, addressing green skills shortages, strengthening supply chains and increasing workforce diversity through home decarbonisation initiatives. The research project was funded by the MCS Foundation and began in September 2025.
THE CHALLENGE
The social housing sector is facing a significant retrofit challenge. Alongside the need to improve the energy efficiency of homes and reduce carbon emissions, organisations must also address growing skills shortages across the construction and retrofit workforce.
Research behind the guidance highlighted an estimated 140,000 construction vacancies in 2025, with shortages affecting roles including retrofit coordinators, retrofit assessors, insulation specialists, heat pump installers and multi-trade operatives. At the same time, around a third of the current workforce is expected to retire by 2035.
While retrofit investment presents a major opportunity to create local employment and training opportunities, these outcomes are not always embedded effectively within procurement processes. Housing providers needed practical guidance on how to use commissioning and procurement more strategically to secure long-term employment, apprenticeship and skills benefits for communities alongside improved homes.
THE OUTCOME
Working with project partners and more than 100 retrofit sector practitioners, including housing associations, local authorities, contractors, framework providers and Mayoral Strategic Authorities, Efficiency North helped shape guidance that provides a practical roadmap for commissioners to embed employment, skills and wider social value outcomes throughout the procurement lifecycle.
The guidance supports organisations in considering social value from the earliest stages of procurement through to contract management and performance monitoring, helping to ensure community benefits are planned, delivered and measured rather than treated as an afterthought.
Efficiency North’s expertise in socially responsible procurement also contributed real-world examples of good practice. The guidance highlights EN:Procure’s ESG model, which requires contractors to deliver one ESG unit for every £50,000 of contract spend, generating outcomes such as apprenticeships, training opportunities and new jobs within local communities.
By contributing to this national guidance, Efficiency North is helping housing providers across the UK use retrofit investment not only to improve homes but also to create lasting social and economic value within the communities they serve.
The full Greener Homes and Good Local Jobs Procurement Guidance is available at https://ashden.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Ashden_Retrofit_futures_2026.pdf
Home decarbonisation is a major opportunity for housing providers to address skills shortages while delivering warmer, more efficient homes, but procurement needs to be used strategically to make this happen.
By building jobs, training and apprenticeships into retrofit programmes from the outset, commissioners can strengthen their supply chains, improve programme resilience and reduce the risks associated with skills shortages. The guidance shows how social value can be built into procurement in a practical and flexible way, rather than being an afterthought.”
Cara Jenkinson | Interim Head of Cities, Ashden
Retrofit is not simply an opportunity to improve the energy efficiency of homes, it’s also an opportunity to invest in the people and communities delivering that transformation.
For housing providers, addressing local skills shortages can help support better-quality delivery and more resilient programmes, while also creating opportunities for their own residents. The Retrofit Futures Guidance provides practical advice on how to build this into procurement, with the flexibility to deliver different types of social value and consider it from the outset and throughout the contract lifecycle.”
Simeon Perry | Head of ESG, EN:Procure
EN:Procure
EN:Communities