Thermal image of the outside of a mansion block in Westminster, showing areas of heat loss from inside the building

Retrofit Your Block

Join your neighbours to find out about making your home more healthy, comfortable, energy efficient, low carbon and cheaper to run.

PLUS... an opportunity to join a (paid) project team in the autumn that will co-design a guide to support other residents in their journey to retrofitting their own blocks.

About the project

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Westminster Council has teamed up with community retrofit experts Home Energy Action Lab ("HEAL") to bring you a series of engaging free events on home energy at Grosvenor Community Hall, Vincent Street. These events will boost your confidence in understanding how your home uses and loses energy, how it breathes to ensure good air quality, and how it can stay cosy in winter and cool in summer.

By encouraging collaboration, we will explore common themes and how a collective approach might supplement individual actions. We'll hear from local amenity groups who will share stories of the magic of Westminster, alongside residents sharing about their lived experiences. We'll celebrate our collective community and consider how our buildings might need to adapt to a changing environment.

We'd love your input in developing a guide that will help others benefit from your wisdom and lived experience, alongside professionals who can provide the technical content. So in addition to the in person events, we will be inviting a small group of residents to take part in the co-design of a retrofit guide: "Mind the Gap: Retrofit Your Block", a shared resource to engage residents, build understanding, and support communities in developing a retrofit strategy of their own .

Please click on the Timeline and make a note in your diaries of the dates for the in person events, we'd love to see you there!

Timeline

Launch Event: Home Care & Repair

17th May 2025 (confirmed)

Free in person workshop + refreshments, 2-5pm on Sat 17th May in Grosvenor Community Hall. Come and join your neighbours to find out about making your home more healthy, comfortable, energy efficient, and cheaper to run. The event will boost your confidence in understanding how your home uses and loses energy, how it breathes to ensure good air quality, and how it can stay cosy in winter and cool in summer. We'll hear from local amenity groups who will share the magic of Westminster, alongside residents sharing stories about their lived experiences. We'll celebrate our collective community and consider how our buildings might need to adapt to a changing environment. Children welcome.

2nd Event: Couch to 5K for your home

17th June (6-8pm). Grosvenor Community Hall, Vincent Street

How to make your home fit and healthy! At this second, free in person event, we’ll build on the topic of heat loss from the home by exploring insulation and ventilation. What they are, why you need them, where they go… both are key when looking to improve health, comfort and affordability in the home. There will be a quiz and discussion around indoor air quality, with prizes to be won! During the second hour of the event we’ll consider different circumstances from residents, based on housing typology, use and tenure. A chance to understand the different pathways residents may take to progress work, and where a joined up approach may be beneficial.

3rd Event: Your Block and Beyond

15th July (6-8pm). Grosvenor Community Hall, Vincent Street

Final event in the series of 3 free, in person events. We will focus on the building as a system: both a flat within a block and a block within a street. Looking at what measures are best taken at a large scale, and how best to approach the multiple stakeholders and needs. Following the 3 workshops, we will recruit a small group of residents who will help input and shape a shared guide, or "playbook", that will act as a shared resource to help other communities develop their own retrofit strategy.

Technical research

March - October

Along with desktop research, HEAL will be conducting retrofit assessments at homes of a typical archetype, or house type, in Westminster, to understand the energy performance of the building and potential retrofit measures that may be suitable for other buildings of that form eg. a mansion block flats.

Co-Design workshop #1

(date tbc)

Co-Design workshop #2

(date tbc)

Milestone description

Co-Design workshop #3

(date tbc)

Milestone description

Our project is now live!

Our project is now live! Please come to our launch eventA free in person workshop with refreshments, 2-5pm on Sat 17th May in Grosvenor Community Hall, Vincent Street, SW1P 4HB. Children welcome.Find

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Meet the team

Westminster City Council

Westminster City Council is responsible for running this consultation, analysing its results and presenting them to stakeholders and the public.

Read Westminster City Council privacy policy

Westminster Retrofit Taskforce

Westminster City Council established the Westminster Retrofit Taskforce in October 2022, as means to scope strategic retrofit delivery, focusing on the borough’s key archetypes and historic building stock. Westminster has 56 conservation areas and is home to 11,000 listed buildings, many of which are hard-to-treat in terms of their decarbonisation strategy and environmental performance. The Taskforce developed an early delivery plan with innovative workstreams aimed at addressing the identified barriers and upscaling delivery at a systemic level

Home Energy Action Lab ("HEAL")

HEAL (Home Energy Action Lab) is a not for profit set up in 2022 to support community-led action on the retrofit of buildings to improve energy performance, health and comfort; whilst reducing energy costs and decarbonising heat.

We are a small team with a large network and loads of energy!

HEAL is responsible for organising the events, leading the resident engagement, the co-design and publication of the retrofit "playbook".

Contact Team

Please follow HEAL on instagram, or use the below email address if you'd like to get in touch with us...

Email healourhomes@gmail.com