Since 2013 about £26bn has been spent on government and energy company obligations, of which a chunk would be made available on a project by project basis for comms, marketing and engagement – what value has been created by that investment of public funds?
Funding will often allow for up to 10% to be spent on scheme administration, and where it doesn’t comms and marketing will often be capitalised into the overall costs of the improvements. If 3% is used on comms and marketing that would equate to £780m, even at 1% that would be £260m.
Given where we are in terms of the perception and interest in retrofit, low and zero carbon technologies – potentially solar PV notwithstanding – it’s hard to see how that investment has catalysed action or interest. We still struggle to persuade people that the measures we think will help are either useful or desirable. It isn’t the only reason that there have been consistent levels of underspend on schemes, or a need to extend timescales for delivery or reduce the amount or level of interventions undertaken, but it is clearly a factor.
But what if that investment, or even a fraction of it, were used differently? Used more collectively to develop advice or materials or try different approaches and cascade that out. Or it could be used to provide some baseline services that can be used by everyone and could outlive the projects? Building capacity and seeding interest in local community activities?
Doing things that would involve working collectively and collaboratively to put in place the things we think are needed or could be useful. Trying and piloting and testing and maybe using government funding but in different ways to try and create a legacy from that part of it.
Of course, that same approach could be developed by the sector without using or re-purposing government funding too – it could be sourced from other budgets. There are examples of one-stop shops and other models which could be developed and adopted that are much more industry or community led too.
Either way, it’s sobering indeed to reflect on the massive investment which has already happened to date and how little that seems to have shifted the level of interest. It’s also clear that we can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing and expect different results, we have to think and do differently.
