A guide intended to provide industry and stakeholders with a common approach to commercial retrofit through the lens of net-zero carbon has been published.
From 2025, every commercial building in the UK will require an energy performance certificate (EPC) which rates its energy efficiency from grade A to G. The government has proposed that all commercial properties being let have a minimum EPC rating of at least ‘B’ by 2030 and is considering a possible interim requirement of level ‘C’ by 2027.
As approximately 70% of the UK’s non-residential building stock was constructed before the year 2000, significant energy efficiency and embodied carbon reductions will be needed to meet these standards.
This article from the UKGBC explores what to think about in useful detail and if this is something you are thinking about, talk to our friends at Retrofit Works – a not-for-profit cooperative offering its services at the lowest possible cost to further their mission, lower energy bills, create healthy homes and achieve Net Zero.
The Social Investment Forum (SIF) is undertaking a piece of research under its ‘Future Needs’ working group that aims to move beyond asking what form of money organisations want (loan, grant, blended, equity etc), and focus instead on assessing the product features that are most appropriate and desirable for charities and social enterprises when they are looking to take on investment.
This survey will develop our sector’s understanding of the current and future needs of the social economy – incorporating all elements of product design and development – to help ensure that we can offer products which are built around the needs of charities and social enterprises.
This is YOUR CHANCE to help them understand what YOU need.
It should only take 5-10 minutes to complete and is for any charity, social enterprise or other social purpose organisation based in the UK, regardless of whether you are currently seeking funding.
The survey is open until the 10th June and can be accessed here
The SIF is the national forum for social investment and finance intermediaries (SIFIs). Activities of the SIF aim towards the betterment of the UK’s social investment market, through advancing the work of cross-sector initiatives, as well as advocacy and policy work to influence the Government’s legislative and regulatory agenda. You can find out more about the SIF here.
This blog was edited on Wednesday 8th June to include the closing date for the survey.
We’re really pleased to share the announcement that the Community Shares Booster Fund has relaunched this week in England with new investment from Power to Change.
We are incredibly proud to be involved in the Community Shares Booster Fund which supports new and existing community businesses in England that are at all stages of a community share issue. Support is available through development grants, matched equity up to £25k, and where relevant specialist business development support is available.
Whether you are at the earliest of early stages of exploring if it’s the right choice, through to planning a community share issue, being ready to launch, or in exceptional cases, recently launched – the Fund can help.
The Community Fund supports projects that make communities fairer for everyone. Co-op members have raised over £85m for nearly 30,000 local projects since the fund was started in 2016.
Successful applicants will partner with Co-op for 12 months and you’ll get a minimum of £1,000 to support your project.
Types of projects that will be considered include those that:
· Bring people together to access food
· Help improve people’s mental wellbeing
· Create opportunities for young people to be heard and make a difference
· Help people protect local biodiversity or tackle climate change by reducing carbon emissions
Sounds like it would suit your organisation? Find out more on Co-op’s website.
Today is World Fair Trade Day – a global celebration organised annually by the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) to raise awareness on alternative solutions to the planet’s economic and ecological challenges.
We really like their focus on business models that put people and planet first. Business is not going away and models that do better, build better, support their communities, have to be part of the solution. And as they point out, and as we see in the co-operative sector, Fair Trade Enterprises retain a stable turnover over many years. Their pursuit of social and environmental goals does not undermine their ability to operate in a competitive market.
Building better business is what we do and how we work, and it’s what we have done for almost 50 years.
We wish you a Happy World Fair Trade Day and we wish all of us a world full of brighter, better businesses – co-ops, community owned, fairly traded.
Are you a UK charity or social enterprise who has been impacted by Covid 19 and need funds to help you survive, recover and grow? Our friends at Social Investment Business may be able to help. Talk to us about whether you could be eligible for their Recovery Loan Scheme.
Eligible organisations can apply for loans of £100k-£1.5m and the Fund also provides unrestricted grants (alongside the loan) and support to Black and Minoritised Ethnicity -led charities and social enterprises that meet the grant criteria.
Project Cosmic has a vision to inspire people to achieve success in the digital world. They saw the Recovery Loan Fund (RLF) as an opportunity to rapidly scale up their organisation and increase their ability to provide digital skills training in Devon. Read more about how the fund supported their ambitions here.
Applications are open until 11.59pm on Friday 20th May 2022 and are reviewed on a first come, first served basis so if this sounds suitable for your organisation, contact us TODAY.
We are proud to share that we have signed up to The Diversity Forum.
The Diversity Forum is a collective within the UK Social Investment Sector, on a mission to drive inclusive social investment in the UK, through the convening of sector-wide groups, commissioning research, and knowledge sharing.
The Manifesto that we have signed up to is practical and sets out a path for us. Described as ‘a bold new way to address equity, equality, diversity and inclusion in the social investment sector’, it consists of 7 clear commitments to report on annually and 10 initial actions to get started on in the first six months.
We are sharing this with you not just to demonstrate our commitment to equity, equality, diversity and inclusion but also to ask you to hold us accountable and support us on our journey to get there.
Hopefully with these 7 commitments, you will feel empowered to challenge us and work with us to improve our systems and process, redistribute power and resources and work collaboratively and openly to a more equitable, inclusive and diverse future.
This Manifesto has been signed by the staff team and board. We have nominated Anne Wilks to lead on this and she will be liaising directly with the Diversity Forum.
We’re really proud to be doing this. We’d like to say that we’ve been ahead of the curve with the shift in focusing on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) – who wouldn’t? – but the reality is that we have operated in broadly the same way as our sector. Historically, the majority of our lending has been to groups mostly made up of white, able bodied people, fairly typical of the co-op and community business space. Our team and Trustees have largely been the same, though we have focused on consciously increasing our diversity in recent years.
There has been a lot of talk over the years in our sector about why people from certain backgrounds or deprived communities don’t come forward, or start the types of businesses we support. We are aware that people facing multiple oppressions have more – many more – blocks on the pathways to social ventures and so the time has come for us to stop asking why, and start changing from within.
We are in the process of educating ourselves. Ultimately, we hope to be able to create new financial products that reflect the needs of those not currently accessing our services. That is a little way off yet – but every journey starts with a single step. We’ve taken our first, second and third steps – we look forward to sharing more on our journey as we take it.
Co-operative & Community Finance’s ‘More Than a Pub’ finance package has helped the residents of Frisby on the Wreake purchase and refurbish The Bell Inn, creating a pub owned and protected for future generations by the community.
As the only remaining pub in Frisby on the Wreake (situated on the Upper Wreake Valley of Leicestershire) owners of The Bell Inn approached local parish councillors when the pub closed its doors in April 2021, due to the lease not being renewed by previous tenants. Following a village meeting exploring the option of purchasing the community asset, ‘The Bell Inn Frisby Community Group’ was quickly formed with surveys being sent to 382 households in the village and wider rural catchment in May 2021.
Local MP Alicia Kearns with Pub Operations manager Steve Hardy and Pub Manager Lucy Jackson & Gordon Jackson
A positive response to the potential purchase from residents led to the formal registration of ‘The Bell Inn Frisby Community Group Limited CBS’ in August 2021 following ongoing community consultation they produced a Community Engagement Plan in the September. It was at this point that the vision, aims, and values of the community pub were established involving becoming a family friendly and inclusive hub for the community, and extending services to include a daytime café, business hub (with Wi-Fi and printing facilities), and installation of an Electric Vehicle charging point.
A community share offer was launched on 11th October 2021 and after a slight extension of the deadline an impressive £302,000 was raised by the community with help from residents within the Melton Borough area as well as investors from across the Midlands, UK and even a some from overseas (including Germany, Hong Kong, Fiji, Australia and the US through previous residents of the village and family members living abroad).
As well as the purchase of the building the new society intends to refurbish and repair the courtyard area, buy outside furniture, and provide working capital for set up and stock for the bar. The Bell Inn intends for the membership and community to have a real say in the future direction and core values of the pub providing positive social impact, promoting inclusion and becoming a ‘hub’ for the community.
Residents with local Vicar David Harknett
Tony Bird, the Chairman of The Bell Inn Frisby Community Group, said “We have achieved so much in such a short space of time, but there is still a great deal to do. We have already erected scaffolding to give the exterior a facelift and the kitchens are undergoing complete renovation with a view to starting food service on Wednesday June 1st.”
Steve Hardy, Pub Operations Manager added, “We also have ambitious plans for the outside area and the conservatory. We debated delaying the opening, but once we’d completed the bar area and revamped the cellar, we just wanted get the doors open and start trading.”
The supportive loan finance from Co-operative and Community Finance comes from their ‘More Than a Pub’ fund, a loan product created specifically to support Community Pubs, as a legacy to the original Power to Change and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) funded project, led by the Plunkett Foundation. Tim Coomer, Business Development Manager Co-operative & Community Finance said: “It’s fantastic to see another community take ownership of such an important village asset. I know the committee are keen to be really involved in the pub alongside a new manager and reject it becoming just a destination pub, by offering a reasonably priced range of products that are accessible to all.”
The ‘More Than a Pub Fund’ provides loan finance of between £75,000 to £150,000 available to Community Owned Pubs at a discounted rate of interest for members of the Plunkett Foundation, length of term ranges from five to twenty years. We can also help support groups access grant funding to help get them develop their business plans and pay for surveys, etc… through the Reach Fund. Please contact Co-operative & Community Finance for the full terms and conditions, and to discuss how your Community Owned Pub venture can be supported.
