Sara Edmonds, co-director of the National Retrofit Hub, discusses Retrofit Connect, which aims to challenge top-down “waterfall” approaches to retrofit by putting communities at the heart of shaping their built environment
The UK’s retrofit challenge has been shaped over decades by systems and approaches rooted in a different era. National strategies, centralised policymaking and distant funding mechanisms evolved to deliver consistency and control, and in many ways, they have driven important progress.
Yet, as the pressures of today’s interconnected crises intensify, these structures are revealing their limits. Models built for stability now struggle to reflect the diversity of places and the lived realities of the people they are meant to serve.
What if, instead of retrofit being delivered to communities, it was driven by them? What if the people who live in our streets had the tools, support and agency to shape the transition themselves?
Across the country, that shift is starting to happen. Community groups are no longer waiting for permission or instruction. They are organising, experimenting and leading. At the National Retrofit Hub, we believe this bottom-up approach is not a niche alternative. It is fundamental to unlocking scale and building trust at the pace the transition requires.
This is why we launched Retrofit Connect, a new programme that supports and amplifies community-led retrofit. It is about flipping the script and showing what happens when power, resources and knowledge are shared, not hoarded.
The waterfall problem
Top-down programmes often look like waterfalls. Decisions made at the top cascade down through layers of delivery until they eventually reach the people whose homes and streets are being upgraded.
By the time it reaches the ground, the original intent has often been diluted through layers of interpretation and delivery. And not only that, but these programmes can also miss the mark, because there has been limited involvement of the people who know most about the places themselves.
This model can deliver activity, but it rarely builds ownership or momentum. It assumes that retrofit is something done to people in a particular way, not with them in the way it needs to have impact.
Bottom-up approaches work in the opposite direction. They start with the people who live in a place. They listen first. They build outward from lived experience, local priorities and community ambition. They are transparent, participatory and iterative. Communities are not passive recipients. They are co-designers and co-governors of change.
Retrofit Connect is built on this principle. We are not leading from the front. We are walking alongside communities, sharing tools, connections and expertise to help them deliver on their own terms. It is open, collaborative and flexible rather than hierarchical.
Retrofit Connect in practice
Retrofit Connect is shaped by the principles of Retrofit Reimagined and begins with a bold question: “What if the climate transition and retrofit of our homes and streets were designed, owned and governed by the people who live there?”
Through the Street Demonstrator Project, delivered with Civic Square and other collaborators, we are testing this question in practice. Communities set their own schedules and priorities. We share everything we have without gatekeeping. There are no closed doors and no hierarchies.
This approach is already helping to overcome some of the most persistent challenges in retrofit. It builds trust, encourages early participation and creates genuine ownership at neighbourhood level. When communities have agency, they do not slow things down. They accelerate it with solutions that fit their context and have the support of the people who will live with them.
What communities are surfacing
As Retrofit Connect develops, communities are identifying the key areas where shared learning and technical input will be essential. These emerging themes are already shaping the focus of our Sponge Sessions and Technical Clinics:
- Shared energy systems.
- Soft retrofit measures.
- Social contracts in neighbourhoods.
- Bio-based materials, training and standards.
- Housing archetypes and retrofit pathways.
- Land and housing stewardship.
These themes reflect real questions being raised on the ground. They are not theoretical. They point to the areas where collaboration between communities and industry can unlock practical progress.
Bringing communities and industry together
A core part of Retrofit Connect is the Retrofit Community of Industry. Across the retrofit sector there is deep expertise, but it is often siloed or difficult for communities to access. Retrofit Connect creates spaces for mutual learning where lived experience and technical knowledge sit side by side.
Through deep dive workshops, technical clinics and in-person meet ups, we are building a national network that thrives on openness and collaboration. This is not consultancy. It is shared endeavour, shaped by those doing the work on the ground.
The question for all of us
The retrofit challenge is vast. No single organisation, government department or community group can solve it alone. If we keep relying on waterfall models alone, we risk delivering programmes that tick boxes but fail to transform lives.
The question is whether we are ready to reimagine how change happens. Can we trust communities to lead, and can the wider ecosystem support them with the respect and resources they deserve?
Retrofit Connect is an early answer to that question. By supporting community-led retrofit and creating the conditions for genuine collaboration, we are not only delivering projects, but we are also changing the way retrofit is imagined and delivered in the UK.
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