Innovation of the year: the North, Scotland and Wales 

Edinburgh-based Novoville worked with Birmingham City Council to co-design Shared Works, a pioneering digital infrastructure that aims to transform how retrofit programmes are delivered. It was created to support live delivery of ECO schemes and Great British Insulation Schemes (GBIS) by addressing systemic barriers in programme management.

 

Shared Works has improved not only co-ordination for contractors and local authorities, but also clarity for residents who were too often left confused and in the dark while navigating the retrofit process. 

 

Shared Works has created a single integrated environment in which council teams and contractors manage applications, verify eligibility, upload compliance documentation, monitor performance and communicate with residents. The results have been measurable and immediate.

 

Administrative processing time has been reduced by 65% following implementation, with over 1,500 homes processed within months. A dedicated resident portal provides clear and accessible updates on retrofit works, and more than 40% of residents have created accounts to track their retrofit journey.

 

Following its success in Birmingham, Shared Works has been procured by the West Midlands Combined Authority to support multiyear retrofit delivery across seven councils and 22 housing associations. 

 

The judges said:

“Shared Works addresses one of the most significant structural barriers to housing decarbonisation: the co-ordination, compliance and data-management complexity of delivering retrofit programmes at scale. A compelling example of systemic innovation”