The Warm Home Hub, in the Westside Community of Galway City, gave a free-of-charge advice service that helps local residents by sustainably upgrading and retrofitting their homes, to make them into energy-efficient, sustainable, more comfortable and healthier homes. This included advice about the grants to home owners. They gave solutions that are available and suitable for each home, and how they could pay back the works through savings. The Warm Home Hub team also talked to the Westside community through door-to-door calling, community meetings and information events. Warm Home Hub was developed as part of the European NetZeroCities pilot project, which was designed to help chosen cities overcome different barriers in the way of reaching climate neutrality. Galway City took part in this project as a ‘pilot’ city. The Galway City Net Zero Cities project looked at energy efficiency in buildings and making it easier for people to retrofit their homes.
Where?
Galway City
Who started this action?
Westside Resource Centre
Some quick facts about the project
- 2023 Engaged with over 450 residents living in the Westside Community, through various outreach activities and consultation.
- Offered step-by-step and free of charge advice on customised solutions for upgrading individual homes.
- Helped homeowners understand how energy improvements can yield returns in the short and medium term, whether it be in terms of heating, home comfort, bill reductions and environmental sustainability.
- Provided information and services that simplified the complex landscape of available grant funding to make home energy upgrades more accessible.
- Provided information on local contractors who could be used by households in their retrofitting journey.
- Provided free “Building Energy Ratings” (BERs) for residents of the Galway City Decarbonisation Zone, giving residents an opportunity to learn more about how they used energy in their homes and what energy upgrade options would be most suitable for them.
- Organised a large number of community information and education events, including workshops, information sessions, drop-in-clinics, family and training events.
- Developed a website which provided a host of information on the services provided by the Warm Home Hub, the NetZeroCities Programme in Galway City, events in the community, information articles on retrofitting topics and contact details of staff.
- Assisted in organising events such as the display of the Mount Lucas Mobile Retrofit Training Unit in Galway City, along with offering drop-in clinics and training.
- Engaged with local promotional campaigns, including several media interviews with Galway Bay FM.
- Phyiscal One-Stop-Shop established at Westside Resource Centre. Website and online appointment booking system
- The Galway City Net Zero Cities project was shortlisted for the LAMA Awards 2025, in the Best Energy Smart Initiative.
What makes this stand out?
The Warm Home Hub presents the first attempt at providing a free-of-charge retrofit information service to the Westside community. It also proof that community focussed retrofit iniatives are successful, and provides a replicable service that can enable communities achieve sustainable, energy efficient, comfortable and healthy homes
Highlights
- The Warm Home Hub was established as part of the Galway City Net Zero Cities Pilot project, under the EU Net Zero Cities project.
- Resources and continuity of the service
- Significant progress made in supporting retrofitting activities within Galway’s Decarbonisation Zone.
- Engaged with over 450 residents living in the Westside Community to raise awareness of retrofitting and assist householders in their retrofit journey, including providing 128 home energy assessments and 100 Building Energy Rating assessments.
Why this matters
- There is a clear need to reduce carbon emissions from residential buildings in Galway City’s Decarbonisation Zone and in Galway City as a whole, given that residential buildings in both the Galway City Decarbonisation Zone and Galway City accounted for around 40% of overall carbon emissions.
- The Warm Home Hub presents a successful and replicable service that can enable communities achieve sustainable, energy efficient, comfortable and healthy homes.
- Similar approaches could be taken nationally, to help deliver on Ireland’s retrofit target of 500,000 homes retrofitted by 2030.
SDG Alignment & Keywords
- SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
- SDG 13: Climate Action, SDG 3: Good health and well-being, SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
- SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
Keywords: Retrofitting; Energy Efficiency; Comfort; Sustainability; Decarbonisation
Find Out More about the project
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