RS2: Lessons from the Bromley Retrofit Pathfinder

Curated, Not Procured 

The partnership didn't come together through a standard procurement process. As Jenny noted during the session, it was "less procured and more curated." Paul wanted to work with organisations he trusted, and invested significant time early on in getting the right people in the room and letting them figure out how to make it work. 

That meant something unusual: the client stepping back. Rather than directing every decision, Paul gave the delivery team the space - and the responsibility - to resolve problems themselves and come back with solutions. 

"I'm choosing to work with people because relationships are really important," Paul explained. " 

Sero and Ambue reflected on what that shift felt like from a delivery partner's perspective: "It suddenly gave you the responsibility that actually you're part of it rather than you are a contractor. You're part of the team now." 

It was noted that this dynamic also required honesty about each organisation's strengths and limits. The partners were open about which parts of the programme they could deliver, rather than claiming they could do everything: "There are lots of chimney pots to go around, not one person can do them all." 

How the Bromley Model Works in Practice 

The Bromley project is explicitly a pathfinder, one of the first attempts to deliver main measures, e.g. heat pumps, insulation, ventilation at scale across a mixed portfolio, with parallel programmes running alongside each other. 

Roles are divided across three areas: 

Assessments are led by Ambue with findings feeding into a shared data platform that Sero's team can access directly, a process that has since been automated via SharePoint. 

Coordination is managed by Sero's team, whose reports then pass to the design team. This three-way cycle - assess, coordinate, design - runs on a regular cadence, with a standing three-week review call involving all parties. 

Design sits with Sero, with a deliberate emphasis on compliance over complexity. As one speaker put it: "We don't need bells and whistles. It needs to be compliant, it needs to be good, it needs to be satisfactory." 

One important feature of the model is flexibility between programmes. Homes assessed under the Bromley programme can move to other funding streams depending on what the data reveals, meaning the right intervention can follow the right funding, rather than being forced into a single delivery pathway. 

What They've Learned So Far 

Managing data is harder than it looks. Retrofit generates a significant volume of data across assessments, TrustMark requirements, and coordination reports,and integrating that across different organisational systems takes deliberate effort. "Any big project you do is different platforms and systems," Andrew noted. 

Relationships matter more than contracts. The delivery model only works because the parties were willing to work through disagreements rather than escalate them. "If it's not working, you share, learn, try things, break stuff, try again," Paul said. "That's where we got to." 

Scale is still the open question. The Bromley project is a start, but the challenge the sector faces is enormous, an estimated 28 million homes in need of improvement. The discussion was frank about the gap between what a single pathfinder project can prove and what the sector actually needs: "We're still doing ones and twos and we've got 28 million homes to work on." 

 Questions for Housing Providers to Reflect On 

1. When things go wrong on your retrofit programmes, where does accountability tend to land, and is that working for you? 

2. How much are you directing your delivery partners versus giving them the space to solve problems together? What would it take to shift that balance? 

3. Are your assessment and design processes flexible enough to move homes between funding programmes as data comes in, or does your current model lock in decisions too early? 

 Key Takeaways 

• Partnership built on relationships, not just contracts. The Bromley model was assembled through deliberate relationship-building rather than conventional procurement, and that investment has paid back in shared ownership of problems and outcomes. 

• Client step-back can unlock delivery partner accountability. When the client removes themselves from the day-to-day, delivery partners take on real responsibility, but this only works if trust is established first. 

• Data and flexibility are foundational. Retrofit programmes that can route homes to the right funding pathway, based on live assessment data, are better placed to maximise impact and avoid homes falling through the gaps.