The ingredients for a successful citizen-led project

On 24–25 March, the Support Service for Citizen-led Renovation (CLR) partners met in Dublin (Ireland) to exchange ideas on challenges and solutions for delivering citizen-led home energy renovations.

During this very insightful workshop, everybody agreed on a consistent message: while interest in home energy upgrades is widespread, transforming it into concrete projects requires carefully planned and ongoing work. The core challenge lies in converting fragmented interest into organised, deliverable, and financeable renovation projects.

Engagement is key, but interest needs to be supported by clear goals and commitment

No matter where in Europe, the challenges that bottom-up energy initiatives need to address are the same, even though each country has its own specificities.

Households are very much interested in renovation, mostly driven by practical concerns, such as rising energy costs. Their goodwill needs to be supported by tangible examples of similar projects, trusted local figures or groups leading engagement, and a clear and shared problem to solve. Engagement that remains general or information-led tends not to progress. Action begins when the issue becomes specific and collectively understood.

To progress, an initiative needs a clear scope, a shared understanding among participants, financial clarity, and a defined pathway to delivery. Indeed, many projects begin with strong engagement but fail to progress because they are not sufficiently defined.

The stories shared by partners highlighted that successful projects rely on a smaller core group that drives progress and maintains momentum, supported by a wider group that may engage at later stages. Without this structure, projects tend to lose direction or stall over time.

In addition to households' involvement, it’s also important to engage with contractors as early as possible to ensure feasibility and alignment.

Funds, guidance, and defined roles

Financing was consistently identified as a barrier across all stages of the renovation journey. Progressing projects requires not just access to funding, but clarity on how different funding sources can be combined and applied at the right stage. While grants play an important role in triggering interest, they do not provide a complete solution.

Even when funds are secured, communities are not always able to deliver projects independently without ongoing guidance. Local authorities play an important role in providing legitimacy and coordination, while intermediary organisations guide projects and support delivery. Without this support in place, most initiatives do not progress beyond the early stages.

A structured, successful project has clear objectives and clear roles. While community leadership is essential, relying entirely on unpaid effort is not sustainable, particularly as projects become more complex. This includes building on existing local groups, establishing core teams to lead projects, and providing defined roles and responsibilities.

From project definition to accessible financing and ongoing support

As our enablers are setting up their collectives, the CLR project is striving to address these gaps by providing a clear path, guidance, technical support, coordination, and accessible financing to deliver home renovations across Europe. Stay tuned!