Following the release of Changeworks’ white paper, From Advice to Action: Retrofit One Stop Shops, a recent Changeworks Connects webinar brought together perspectives on how energy and retrofit one stop shops can help households move from advice to action.
The session explored a vision for joined-up retrofit support in Scotland, shared practical learning from our partnership with South Lanarkshire Council and opened up a discussion about the funding, policy and local partnerships needed to make this approach work.
Project background and approach
Retrofit can involve navigating unfamiliar technologies, making significant financial decisions and dealing with several different services. The webinar examined how one stop shops can simplify this process by connecting trusted advice with home assessments, finance, technical expertise and installation support.
Chaired by Fabrice Leveque, the webinar featured Gillian Campbell, Director of the Existing Homes Alliance, and Sam Cribb, Development Manager at Changeworks. The presentations combined a vision for a network of retrofit agencies with practical experience of designing and delivering a local one stop shop service.
Commissioned by South Lanarkshire Council and funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, the six-month pilot ran from October 2025 to March 2026 across all four South Lanarkshire localities. By drawing on established services, Changeworks mobilised the pilot in under four weeks from contract signing.
Key findings
The presentations highlighted the following themes:
A one stop shop should be more than another advice service. Households may need help with home assessments, retrofit plans, funding, contractor selection, installation and post-installation support. The aim is to provide one accountable customer experience, without requiring one organisation to deliver every element.
The Existing Homes Alliance’s vision is for retrofit agencies to work alongside Home Energy Scotland, providing tailored end-to-end support. A mixed market of national operators, community-based organisations and specialists would give homeowners choice. Under this approach, services would be chargeable for households able to pay and fully grant-funded for those in fuel poverty.
Retrofit agencies should understand each household’s needs, take a whole-building approach and prioritise quality. The services discussed included home assessments, whole-house plans, supply chain engagement, installation design and review, project management, finance guidance, quality assurance and post-installation support.
Learning from South Lanarkshire
The pilot combined free energy advice, in-person events, webinars, funding signposting and retrofit guidance. Residents could use the MyEcoCosi planning tool, while the paid-for EcoCosi service offered more detailed support for private homeowners. Targeted engagement with landlords and work with BE-ST also explored the local supply chain needed to respond to future demand.
Over six months, the pilot reported:
- More than two million digital impressions
- Reach of more than 56,000 people through the website, door drops and related activity
- Support for 24 local events attended by more than 300 people
- 269 individual advice engagements
- Personalised support for 51 households
- 41 MyEcoCosi retrofit plans, associated with estimated potential carbon savings of around 69 tonnes of CO2
The carbon figure relates to estimated savings from the plans, not verified savings from completed installations. The central lesson was that awareness is not the same as delivery. Strong reach and early engagement create a pipeline, but households often need repeated support before they are ready to invest.
- Trust and local relationships matter: Council communications and established community networks helped the service reach residents and build credibility.
- Digital reach needs human support: Online information can help people explore options in their own time, but many also want to speak to an adviser. A successful service needs both routes.
- Different audiences need different approaches: Homeowners, private landlords, low-income households and communities have different motivations and barriers. The proposition and route into support should reflect those differences.
- Demand and delivery capacity must develop together: Engaging installers and contractors is essential if growing household interest is to translate into completed work.
Wider application and next steps
Our framework brings together five stages: awareness, understand, decide, act and learn. It combines trusted engagement, advice and whole-home understanding with clear options, finance and delivery connections, and learning from customer outcomes.
The model has four core functions: generating demand, building confidence, converting interest into action and building local capacity. Information gathered throughout the journey can help local authorities understand demand, unmet need and where households are getting stuck.
The starting point is the local context, rather than a fixed package of services. Local authorities and partners can identify priority households and housing challenges, map existing services and handovers, and agree where additional coordination or delivery support would add most value.
For local authorities and community partners, the next step is to explore how a one stop shop could support local priorities. By understanding which households need support, mapping the customer journey and building on existing partnerships, we can create a service that helps residents make practical progress. Our white paper on the South Lanarkshire pilot explores the learning in more detail.
Questions and answers
The questions and answers explored what is needed to scale up one stop shops, how households engage with retrofit and the opportunities for community-led approaches. The following answers bring together the key points discussed during the webinar.
Budget is only part of the picture. Clear policy direction and timelines would help households plan and give providers confidence to invest in skills and services. Stronger connections between Home Energy Scotland and more in-depth local retrofit support would also help people access the right support at the right stage.
Affordable finance is another important part of turning interest into action. The discussion highlighted the potential to widen access beyond existing grants and loans to other private finance options.
The discussion highlighted the challenges of repeatedly bidding for short-term funding and the need for a longer-term approach with multi-year commitments. The Irish model was discussed as an example of how policy and funding certainty can support planning and investment. At the time of the webinar, the forthcoming Heat in Buildings delivery plan was identified as an opportunity to provide clearer direction.
The South Lanarkshire pilot engaged a broad range of households, with most at an early stage and looking for impartial advice about what to do and where to go. Retrofit journeys can take more than 12 months. Some EcoCosi customers who registered when the service launched were only reaching installation at the time of the webinar, illustrating why a six-month pilot cannot capture the full impact of engagement.
Early awareness-raising and ongoing support are therefore important. Households need time to understand their options, consider the benefits and plan improvements before committing to work.
Community benefit funds offer a potential route to supporting home improvements. The one stop shop framework can be adapted to a community setting as well as a local authority area. Advice, education and sustained engagement would remain essential to help households understand their options and act.
There is no single set-up cost. The approach needs to reflect local priorities, existing services and the level of support required. The discussion highlighted the opportunity to build on Changeworks’ existing investment in advice, engagement and retrofit support, rather than using funds to recreate established services, and to focus investment on engaging households and supporting them through the journey.
The final question raised the importance of appropriate materials and advice for historic and traditional buildings. Although there was not time to explore the topic fully, the closing discussion highlighted how a one stop shop can connect households with the specialist expertise their property needs, particularly for pre-1919 homes, rather than relying on isolated measures or going directly to an installer.
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