SY Neighbourhood Works CBS has been created to prove that retrofit can be done differently: with communities, not to them. We are building a community-owned approach to neighbourhood regeneration that brings together warmer, healthier homes, locally owned energy, climate-resilient green spaces and practical routes into good local work.

Our work is inspired by South Yorkshire’s strong municipal history, including Sheffield City Councils’s former Works Department, which employed thousands of local people to maintain and improve homes across the city. We believe this same spirit of public purpose, local employment and long-term stewardship is exactly what is needed for the transition to net zero.

Too often, retrofit funding is short term and disconnected from the wider housing crisis. Improvements are delivered without giving residents real ownership, power or agency over the places they live. Through the CBS, we want to tackle the root causes of fuel poverty and unhealthy homes by keeping investment, skills, supply chains and decision-making rooted in local communities.