Transform-ER: Unlocking Retrofit At Scale

Enter Transform-ER. 

Funded by Innovate UK and delivered by 13 industry-leading partners, Transform-ER is a bold reimagining of how retrofit is done. The project aims to create a market capable of upgrading one million homes every year by 2030.  

Last month, the team held a showcase event for social landlords to share what they’ve been up to over the last year – starting with lead partner Energiesprong UK’s Emily Braham who offered a glimpse into a future where retrofit is streamlined, affordable, and resident-led. 

Precision Asset Intelligence: Drone-Captured 3D Models 

The evening kicked off with a live demo from Ran Xiao from Planarific, who are redefining asset data capture. Using drones and AI, their platform creates high-resolution 3D models - at the scale of 1,000s of properties at a time - that identify key building components - roofs, skylights, windows - at a granular level. This intelligence is pre-labelled and interactive, helping teams plan with pinpoint accuracy. For landlords juggling varied stock types, this is a game-changer for developing standardised, scalable solutions.  

From Raw Data to Actionable Retrofit Plans 

Next, Ambue unveiled the centralised data platform driving Transform-ER’s analysis engine. Neil Hooton guided the audience through the journey—from ingesting portfolio data, normalising it, assigning typologies, to matching retrofit pathways and funding routes. The platform enables projects to be designed around accurate archetype groupings, enhancing predictability and reducing risk. 

Crucially, it supports aggregation across landlords and funding routes, helping form viable business cases and pre-emptively identifying network constraints. Standardisation + customisation = the sweet spot. 

Unlocking Large-Scale Private Finance and Immediate Resident Savings     

Tallarna’s Michelle Taute presented two financial models tailored to support different retrofit priorities. Both address the core needs of key stakeholders.     

Michelle demonstrated how each model enables the creation of compelling business cases. For landlords, the models unlock large-scale private finance without affecting existing loan agreements. For residents, they deliver immediate energy bill savings. For funders, they offer risk-managed returns alongside standardised, ESG outcomes.     

Both models are backed by Energy Performance Insurance, which defends project outcomes for up to 30 years. This policy provides landlords, residents, and funders with the confidence to decarbonise   

Resident Engagement: Reimagined 

Olive Yiga showed us what inclusive, empowering resident engagement can look like. Gone are cold letters and jargon. Instead, residents will receive personalised postcards, linking them to a digital dashboard with real-time updates and interactive choices. 

Their approach is aligned across the retrofit journey—from pre-engagement to handover. There’s real attention to co-design, language accessibility, and trust-building - including for offline residents.  

This is not engagement done to residents. Its engagement done with them. 

Cost-Effective Kits of Parts 

Builders Bow Tie Construction and manufacturer Ultrapanel brought the evening back to the site, with clever innovations that cut time, complexity and cost: 

• Flexible window frames that allow future upgrades without redoing insulation 

• Ventilation units accessible externally, slashing maintenance needs 

• Pre-fixed scaffolding hooks for faster, cheaper set-up 

• Kit-of-parts systems designed for rapid, repeatable installs—delivered with full training and QA support 

They’ve proven that full electrification and deep retrofit can be achieved for a more cost-effective price that will enable scale - streamlined onsite delivery.  

A New Alliance for Risk and Delivery 

Kevin from IPInitiatives tackled the elephant in the room: fragmentation. Too often, design and delivery sit in siloes—making collaboration hard and risk management even harder.  

Their answer? An Insurance-Backed Alliance model. One integrated team, one contract, one partner insurance policy. No ability to claim against each other, and shared gain/pain structures.  

This approach incentivises teamwork, reduces cost overruns, and creates a culture of ownership from the outset. Everyone pulls in the same direction—finally. 

What Happens Next: The Transform-ER Model 

Wrapping up the session, Miles from Wessex Advisory outlined the road ahead. Transform-ER will become a mission-led Community Interest Company, centred on three hubs:  

• Demand Hub: Identifying asset needs and aggregating pipelines 

• Development Hub: Building repeatable, integrated solutions 

• Deployment Hub: Delivering retrofit at scale, supported by tailored alliance models 

The goal is to industrialise the retrofit process while creating learning loops. Every deployment builds capability, every project refines the system, and every resident gets a better outcome.  

Final Thoughts 

Transform-ER doesn’t offer silver bullets. What it does offer is a full ecosystem—from data to finance to delivery - designed to work at the scale we so desperately need. It’s collaborative, systemic, and deeply human. And if the enthusiasm in the room last month is anything to go by, the future of retrofit just got a lot more hopeful. 

Are you interested in delivering high-quality, cost-effective retrofit programmes at scale - creating comfortable, healthy, and sustainable homes that appeal to residents? Be one of the first landlords to register your interest in this new way of delivering integrated retrofit: https://bit.ly/TransformER-interest