Innovation of the year – data and knowledge building

Wiltshire Council’s deployment of the LAEP+ (Local Area Energy Plan Plus) platform in 2024 shows how data-led planning can accelerate climate action and unlock meaningful progress towards net zero. 

Facing challenges such as the absence of a cohesive county-wide retrofit strategy, limited access to sociodemographic, building and energy data and complex funding criteria, the council turned to LAEP+ to help strengthen its application for Warm Homes: Local Grant funding. By leveraging fuel poverty data, heat demand data and energy performance data to identify areas most in need, the council proposed targeted interventions such as insulation upgrades and heating improvements, ensuring alignment with the funding criteria.

The tool also allowed the council to quantify how many properties in Wiltshire were likely to be suitable or eligible for the new grant. These insights bolstered the application by clearly demonstrating how the proposed measures would achieve cost savings and carbon reductions. Beyond retrofit, the council is now using LAEP+ across multiple departments, including strategic planning and highways and transport – fostering better collaboration and streamlined decision-making between council teams. 

The judges said:

“The most comprehensive and actionable data innovation for local net zero planning. LAEP+ stands out as the most impactful innovation in this category, supporting local authorities and large-scale energy planning”