PAS 2035:2023 – Considerations for housing providers: Six key roles, Six months on

It has been six months since the PAS 2035:2023 standard became mandatory for all Government-backed retrofit schemes in the UK. The 31 March deadline earlier this year marked the end of an 18-month transition period from the previous PAS 2035:2019 to this new standard.

A distinctive feature of PAS 2035:2023 is the introduction of six key roles, designed to encourage independent oversight and improve accountability. These roles see the project through from start to finish – beginning with the initial assessment and evaluation of retrofit options, through to the design, installation and eventually post-works testing:

1. The Retrofit Advisor offers advice to the client about its retrofit options and upgrades for the property. This is a non-technical and usually quite informal role however, it is important to ensure the client properly understands the process and potential outcomes for the project.
2. The Retrofit Assessor conducts a detailed assessment of the property to understand its current condition. It will assess the various opportunities and risks to identify suitable retrofit measures, which will then be presented to the Retrofit Coordinator.
3. The Retrofit Coordinator oversees the project from beginning to end and is responsible for ensuring PAS compliance. It will manage the entire project, ensuring the coordination of all activities and cooperation of the people who undertake them, by attending site visits, overseeing testing and documenting any aspects of non-compliance.
4. The Retrofit Designer develops the retrofit design based on the assessment carried out by the Retrofit Assessor. It is responsible for preparing a safe and effective design which meets the PAS standard, as well as addressing any risks identified by the Retrofit Assessor.
5. The Retrofit Installer carries out the installation of the retrofit measures in accordance with the design specification produced by the Retrofit Designer. In practice, a contractor (or contractors) will be appointed to carry out this role.
6. Once the works are complete, the Retrofit Evaluator will monitor and evaluate the performance of the retrofit measures to ensure they meet the desired outcomes. 

Considerations for housing providers

Skills shortage

As the persons appointed to perform these six roles require specific qualifications and accreditations, there are a limited number of qualified people who are able to take these on. Concerns are therefore growing that demand may soon outpace supply – if it has not done so already. 

This presents a further challenge for housing providers in a market where there is already a skills shortage. Providers are needing to think carefully about how they procure these roles; for example, whether this comes from existing staff, new hires, or via building relationships with retrofit contractors. 

Certain roles will be easier to fulfil than others. As explained above, it is anticipated that the Retrofit Installer will be the appointed lead contractor for the works, whereas the Retrofit Coordinator is subject to high qualification and accreditation requirements, making this role more difficult to procure.

Ensuring independence

Whilst it is not unusual for certain roles to overlap (particularly for small-scale projects) it is best practice to ensure the parties undertaking these works are independent of each other. Where the same party is undertaking more than one role, there must be a clear separation of responsibility and appropriate measures in place to manage any conflict of interest and guard against any accusation that one party is in effect “marking its own homework”.

This is often most challenging for housing providers in receipt of competitive grants and/or funding, who are under pressure to compress their procurement and keep costs to a minimum. It is not uncommon for contracts to be bundled together in these circumstances but it is still imperative that housing providers appreciate the importance of independence and oversight when procuring publicly funded energy efficiency or decarbonisation works. If the same party assumes the role of Retrofit Advisor / Assessor and Retrofit Designer / Installer, housing providers run the risk of the same party having control of assessing the measures and retrofit options that a housing providers’ stock is eligible for under the funding requirements, and also the carrying out of the design and construction of the works. This can obviously lead to accusations of over inflation in terms of measures required and costs associated with delivery.   

Conclusion

As housing providers adapt to this new standard, it is becoming apparent that the success of achieving their retrofit goals depends on more than just familiarity with the PAS requirements. PAS might explain how providers can achieve their goals, but procurement of the right people to deliver the project is a real issue.

Thankfully, there are many ways in which a retrofit project can be set up to ensure that even smaller housing providers, who perhaps are unable to run the retrofit roles in house or afford the competitive rates to fulfil these externally, do not get left behind. So long as the retrofit project remains PAS complaint, housing providers are free to procure their supply chain as they see fit. 

Devonshires are highly experienced in drafting bespoke sets of amendments to the JCT suite of contracts in accordance with the PAS 2035 standard and any associated funding requirements. Our work involves ensuring these contracts clearly set out who is being appointed to fulfil each retrofit role (including any replacement) as well as catering for any client-specific competency requirements. It is essential that these contracts clarify the level of involvement of each retrofit role in the works (in particular, whether the retrofit designer will be carrying out the outline design only or all technical design) and for the drafting to be tailored accordingly.