The Project
East Suffolk Council (East Suffolk) work for the communities of East Suffolk, delivering essential services, including housing, refuse collections, and planning.
East Suffolk appointed Pennington Choices to undertake Stock Condition Surveys, including Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) Surveys and an additional set of Retrofit Assessments on 4,100 properties, encompassing both houses and flats across the East Suffolk borough.
East Suffolk requested EPC Surveys as an additional service alongside the Stock Condition Surveys on all properties to review the building’s current energy performance. To ensure quick turnaround times and maximize efficiency, our dual-skilled surveyors complete the Stock Condition Surveys and EPCs in the same visit. East Suffolk also requested additional Retrofit Assessments that include occupant assessments, condition assessments, and EPCs, providing them with a more comprehensive understanding of their stock.
We assigned approximately three surveyors to this project to enhance efficiency and distribute the workload.
Our Approach
Before starting the project, we held a mobilisation meeting and conducted an initial batch of 40 pilot surveys to test the end-to-end system. We are also holding periodic progress meetings to ensure maintained communication with the client, keep them updated on the progress of the works, and address any questions they may have.
We use the data management system Keystone to record all our Stock Condition Survey data, this ensures our surveyors are well-versed and experienced with the system. Keystone allows us to store all data in one secure location and seamlessly transfer data to East Suffolk’s Keystone system.
Our surveyors are qualified and accredited domestic energy assessors with the leading accreditation body, Elmhurst Energy, to undertake EPC Surveys and Retrofit Assessments. The Stock Condition Survey data is loaded into Keystone and the EPC data is lodged into the Elmhurst Go app. Both sets of data are shared with the client and easily accessible through the client portal.
Our surveyors work closely with our planning, scheduling, and dispatch team who schedule the work batches and manage any incoming calls from residents.
The Challenge
One challenge we encountered was completing the Retrofit Assessments within the short turnaround times required by East Suffolk to secure their funding. Despite the challenge, we successfully met this deadline through consistent communication, efficiency, and leveraging our experience.
Our Achievement
We have consistently met all KPIs to date. By the first deadline, we completed 1,100 surveys, enabling East Suffolk to accelerate the remainder of the stock for us to survey, resulting in quick turnaround times. To date, we have completed 1,471 surveys, with the rest on track for completion by the client’s specified timeframe of March 2025.
Using the Elmhurst app demonstrates our use of innovative technology and allows surveyors to complete and lodge EPCs and Retrofit Assessments with ease whilst on site.
We have developed a strong working relationship with East Suffolk throughout this project. After we successfully met the first contract target in March 2024, they extended the contract for an additional year to complete the remaining stock.
