Consultancy Support to produce a Net Zero Neighbourhood (NZN) Project Plan

Overview

The Net Zero Neighbourhood Demonstrator programme has been established by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) as one part of its strategy to cut regional carbon emissions to net zero by 2041. The #WM2041 strategy and its associated Five-Year Plan shows that we need to retrofit nearly 300,000 homes in the region by 2026 to meet our targets.

A specialist consultant is required to develop and produce a Net Zero Neighbourhood plan for Sandwell MBC to participate in the WMCA's Net Zero Neighbourhood Demonstrator programme.

Initial information for the neighbourhood has been gathered in the Expression of Interest (Appendix 1) to understand the characteristics and opportunities in the area. The outline of the form is included with the tender (Appendix 1) to show the initial information gathered. The Net Zero Neighbourhood plan will provide more detail on the neighbourhood, provide analysis on the opportunities to invest to reach Net Zero in the area and build a project plan for the first phases of delivery against available funding sources.

The plan output should provide sufficient detail to allow business cases to be developed to proceed to delivery stages.

To support the procurement activity, an outline specification has been created for the NZN plan (Appendix 2). The specification outlines the headings and structure we would expect to see in the NZN plan and a description of the outcomes from each section.

Plans are to be assessed against the following guidelines: -

Categories:

Mix of housing tenures: Demonstrate engaging with and retrofitting different housing tenures

Community engagement: Plan identified to get buy-in from local stakeholders across tenures, using existing community networks where possible

Opportunity to bring in other funding and finance streams: WMCA investment is one part of funding streams identified for the Net Zero Neighbourhood plan. Finance opportunities should also be sought

Whole neighbourhood approach: Plans for improvements to transport, local energy opportunities, green spaces, social enterprise, etc. are also identified

Regeneration partners: Private sector delivery partners have been identified who will work collaboratively to deliver the project

Delivery Capacity: Capacity of LA to support delivery of the plan Procurement plans and project governance throughout delivery

The duration of this consultancy will be eight weeks starting 7th March to 29th April 2022, however Sandwell would require a proposed plan submitting by 22nd April 2022 to review/refine prior to submitting to the WMCA by their deadline of 29th April 2022.