The West Midlands Combined Authority and Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council have funded a Net Zero Neighbourhood programme to trial decarbonisation strategies at the neighbourhood level. Brockmoor, in Dudley, has been selected as the first demonstrator net zero neighbourhood, named Brockmoor Energy & Environment Scheme, or ‘Community BEES’. Community BEES aims to support local residents to access retrofit solutions, to explore how transport can be improved, and to explore how green spaces can be made more accessible to people.
Image Credit: University of Keele
Image showing the first whole house retrofit completed in the Brockmoor Net Zero Neighbourhood.
What are the key innovative aspects of the project and the story behind it?
The project utilises the community centric design approach developed through Zero Carbon Rugeley. This approach has been deployed to enable the Brockmoor community to develop aspects of the net zero neighbourhood and decarbonisation strategies. Specifically, the approach is aiming to create a replicable approach to street-by-street retrofit in order to increase the uptake of household retrofit. This approach involves supporting residents to understand the purpose of retrofit as well as using other key project areas such as green spaces as leverage points to generate a positive perception of the project to overall increase the uptake of retrofit.
Link to West Midlands Combined Authorities NZN webpage: https://www.wmca.org.uk/what-we-do/environment-energy/energy-capital/net-zero-neighbourhoods/
Link to Dudley Council Community BEES webpage: https://www.dudley.gov.uk/residents/housing/community-bees-brockmoor-energy-and-environment-scheme/
Community BEES Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555575026693
