Climate Week: Exploring tenant advice on low carbon technologies
Th resource is being produced in collaboration with a range of organisations including SFHA, UK Green Building Council and Public Health Scotland.
As we mark Climate Week, SFHA is sharing news on a key resource on retrofit and Changeworks' new survey on the advice tenants receive about low carbon technology.
Retrofit Resource
SFHA is supporting Verture, a Scottish climate resilience charity, to produce a resource on retrofitting climate adaptation measures in social housing.
The resource is being developed under the Adaptation Scotland programme, which Verture deliver on behalf of the Scottish Government. It is vital that social housing is climate-ready, as those experiencing challenges such as low income, disability or caring responsibilities are more likely to be disproportionally affected by climate change, and have less capacity to adapt to impacts such as overheating or surface water flooding.
The intended audience for the resource is social housing providers, and it is being produced in collaboration with a range of organisations including SFHA, UK Green Building Council and Public Health Scotland. SFHA have connected Verture to a range of housing providers to explore how climate impacts are affecting the sector, and what type of resource might be most useful.
If you would like to know more, or be involved in helping to develop or test the resource, please contact Eleanor Pratt (eleanor@verture.org.uk).
Changeworks Survey
Changeworks has been awarded funding by the William Grant Foundation to research the levels of advice given to social housing tenants when their homes are fitted with low carbon technologies, such as heat pumps and solar PV, and how advice can be delivered in an effective and efficient manner given that limited resources will likely remain a challenge. As part of this research, the project team have recently launched a survey for RSLs in Scotland to:
- Estimate the levels and types of advice given to tenants when installing low carbon technologies in social housing across Scotland.
- Assess the quality and impact of advice given as part of these retrofit projects.
- Understand the most practical and effective forms of advice provision for tenants.
Responses from RSLs will play an important role in building a clearer picture of current practices and identifying opportunities to strengthen support for social housing providers and tenants.
The survey should take no longer than 5-10 minutes to complete and can be accessed here: Energy Advice in Retrofit for Social Housing
The deadline for responses is the 17th of October 2025.
If you have any questions about the research, please reach out to Jade Taylor at jtaylor@changeworks.org.uk.