Culture, values and behaviour

In this section, we outline key ideas, approaches, measures and policies for shifting towards a thriving retrofit eco-system that can deliver home energy upgrades at speed and scale. All points are drawn from project research and consortium partners’ experience.

In the future state, retrofit is delivered through ways of working that are collaborative, predictable and performance led. Cultural change is treated as a core condition for scaling high-quality retrofit, embedded across organisations rather than addressed through isolated initiatives.

A sector committed to sustained cultural change
Organisations across the retrofit ecosystem actively invest in long-term cultural and behavioural change. Shared values around openness, learning and collective responsibility are reinforced through leadership, delivery practices and commercial and contractual arrangements. Influential practitioners and organisations play a visible role in modelling and embedding new behaviours, helping to overcome resistance and normalise change.

Retrofit delivered through integrated collaborative project delivery
Retrofit projects operate as “one project”, with clients, contractors and supply chain partners aligned around clear, shared objectives and values. Early engagement, transparent information-sharing and collective problem-solving become standard practice, reducing adversarial dynamics and supporting better outcomes across cost, quality and delivery certainty.

Trust, communication and early resolution embedded in delivery
Project environments consistently support open communication and early escalation of issues. Structured mechanisms for feedback, reflection and conflict resolution are embedded in delivery, enabling teams to address challenges before they escalate and strengthening trust across organisations. This creates the conditions for effective collaboration in complex, occupied-home retrofit contexts.

Stable conditions that de-risk investment and support scale
Aligned objectives, collaborative delivery models and clearer policy direction create a more predictable and investable market. These conditions reduce risk for organisations, enabling sustained investment in skills, manufacturing capacity and supply chains, and supporting the transition from pilot projects to scalable delivery.

Innovation accelerated through learning from experience and faster feedback loops
Learning from successful experience is embedded as a routine part of project delivery, with real-world examples actively shared across organisations. This supports continuous improvement, accelerates uptake of new approaches and builds confidence in change by demonstrating what works in practice.
Faster, appropriate testing and certification processes allow new products and methods to be trialled and refined before on-site deployment. Shorter feedback loops enable earlier learning, reduce delivery risk and support continuous improvement across retrofit projects.

Engagement in education and training
Education and skills development pathways are well established and aligned with the requirements of high-quality retrofit. These pathways support both new entrants and experienced workers to retrain, build confidence in new methods and progress within the sector. Retrofit is recognised as a stable, skilled and attractive career, supporting workforce diversity and long-term capability. Training reinforces the principles and behaviours that support effective collaboration and facilitate change.

Retrofit established as a valued ‘social norm’
Retrofit is widely understood as a normal and expected part of caring for buildings, rather than an exceptional intervention. Shared social values around comfort, quality and sustainability reinforce demand, while confidence in delivery and finance supports uptake by homeowners, residents and landlords.

Questions

• How can the retrofit sector consistently prioritise long-term value, quality and performance over short-term cost, across commissioning, procurement and delivery decisions?
• What shared behaviours, practices and expectations are required for trust, openness and collaboration to become standard across organisations, rather than dependent on individual relationships or goodwill?
• How can retrofit delivery models evolve to attract, develop and retain a more diverse and skilled workforce capable of delivering retrofit at scale?
• What evidence, shared learning and assurance mechanisms are needed to give organisations confidence to adopt new ways of working, invest in skills and collaborate beyond familiar delivery models?
• How can the sector better align commercial viability with environmental responsibility to support high-quality, low-carbon delivery?

Enablers

• Culture change tools and facilitated collaboration
• Continuous improvement supported by shared learning
• Commercial and contractual arrangements that reward collaboration
• Procurement that integrates behaviours and values
• More inclusive pathways into the sector
• Visible role models and evidence of success

Guidelines

• Transforming retrofit – together: our collaboration toolkit

Energiesprong UK has developed a toolkit as part of the Transform-ER project that offers a framework and practical tools for instilling transparency, building trust, and nurturing shared goals across retrofit projects

Rules

• Partners operating within the retrofit sector commit to a shared culture and values framework, supporting long-term collaboration, aligned behaviours and collective responsibility across projects and organisations.