Strategic Partnerships

We work with commercial businesses that have the expertise to complement our own and the funding to support our work. Our local presence, grassroots knowledge and relationship with beneficiaries helps businesses channel their support to the people and properties most in need.

Talk to us about partnerships

• First name*
• Last name
• Email*
  We need your email address so we can respond to your query. It will only be used by Groundwork and not shared with third parties.
• Phone
  If you would prefer to be contacted by phone please add your phone number here.
• Message*
  Thank you for your interest in working with Groundwork. Please use this space to let us know how we can help you.

• For more information about how we will use your data from this form please see the privacy statement.

We work with businesses like yours to tackle:

Our impact

60,000+

Green Doctor visits per year

£350k+

distributed in emergency energy top-ups

£5m

of savings made by households

1,500+

front line workers trained in energy awareness and fuel poverty

On-going engagement with beneficiaries

Our in-home visits, local knowledge, and grassroots presence mean our beneficiaries feel heard and supported.

Transforming living standards

We identify areas of poor upkeep and energy inefficiency and address things like mould and damp, poor ventilation and heat loss, making homes safe, comfortable, and more energy-efficient

Alleviating fuel poverty

We help residents to find cheaper tariffs, minimise waste, and manage their water and energy debt, leaving them with more money to spend on necessities to improve their living standards.

Future-proofing homes

Our specially-trained retrofit assessors start with a Medium-Term Improvement Plan, followed by a full house survey to provide all the information needed to help residents reduce their fuel bills and carbon emissions.

Referrals

Green Doctors have a strong community presence, with a range of referral arrangements with local authorities, specialist services and charities. Our home visits enable us to get to know residents to spot other vulnerabilities and make appropriate referrals to the right organisations.

Decarbonisation

The energy and water efficiencies we deploy in homes directly impact the environment for the better. As a result of our work and, in particular, our expertise in retrofits and EPCs, we saw a saving of 3.7M kg of carbon dioxide in 2019 alone.

Green Doctor in action: Mark’s story

One cold, December morning Green Doctor received a phone call from a Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) at Otley Police Station in Leeds. His tone: alarmed.

I was taken aback by the conditions Mark Lister* is living in. He has no heating and his only running water is provided to him by a tap in the cellar. As such, he has hundreds of bottles of water stored in old disinfectant bottles.

The picture painted by the PCSO was severe but, sadly, not unusual:

Mark would wash outside of his home once a week. He had no cooking facilities aside from an old, unhygienic microwave. 

He had taped up all gaps around the windows and doors, so there was a distinct lack of ventilation around the home. As a result, thick black mould had spread across most of the internal walls, with severe damp present throughout the property. Windows were broken and rotting, electrics were in a dangerous state and there was a large hole in the ceiling of the landing. 

Mark himself was found in ailing health too. He lived with blackouts, respiratory problems, back nerve pain, varicose veins, low blood pressure and a speech impediment, despite not having visited the GP in years. 

He had very little cash and seemed to be unaware of any help or support for his financial situation.

On receiving this information, we responded in the same way we do with all our cases: promptly and proactively. 

We started with our usual home visit to find out more about his situation. We gained a full picture of both Mark Lister’s poor living conditions and mental ill-health during this visit. 

We discovered Mark had some savings. We also identified his anxiety over lack of income (he’s been unemployed for over 40 years due to low self-confidence), and not having enough money to buy food. Having been deprived of food as a child, this was a particular concern, preventing him from spending any money on house repairs for fear of going hungry. 

How we supported Mark

As a result of our visit to Mark, we were able to make significant improvements to both his short and long-term living conditions:

• We issued him with two emergency heaters, a hot water bottle, blanket, gloves, hat, four LEDs, and four dehumidifiers.
• We helped him access the council Home Improvement Loan scheme at 0% interest to help finance the repairs to his roof, windows, and floor. We also helped him apply for the Warm Well Homes grant scheme to purchase a central heating system (at a value of £5,000) and loft insulation (at a value of £300).
• We brought his case to Public Health Leeds and referred Mark to Adult Social Care for support for his childhood trauma and speech impediment.
• We also referred him to the Citizens Advice Bureau and Connect Well for further support with accessing information and support in the future.

*Name and image has been changed to protect privacy.