How to Appoint a Retrofit Coordinator for a Housing Association

If you are commissioning a funded retrofit programme, appointing a retrofit coordinator is not optional. The role is mandatory under PAS 2035, and the coordinator is the person accountable for keeping the whole programme compliant and getting it evidenced for funders. This guide explains what the role covers, why it matters for a housing association, and what to look for when you appoint one.

What a retrofit coordinator actually does

The retrofit coordinator provides end-to-end oversight of a retrofit project, from the first assessment through design, installation and final evaluation. It is a role created by PAS 2035 specifically to manage risk and protect the client and the resident.

In practice the coordinator manages the other retrofit professionals on the project, carries out risk assessments for the measures proposed, produces a medium-term improvement plan for each dwelling, and documents the whole process. At the end, the coordinator lodges the completed project with TrustMark, which is the step that evidences the PAS 2035 process was followed and is essential for funding compliance. Without that lodgement, the work does not count for scheme purposes.

Why a housing association needs one

Two reasons, and they are not negotiable.

First, compliance. Every retrofit project delivered under PAS 2035 must have a coordinator, and all publicly funded social housing retrofit is delivered under PAS 2035. So for any Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund or SHDF work, a coordinator is a condition of delivery, not a nice to have.

Second, evidence. Funders release money against a proper audit trail, and the coordinator is the person who builds and holds that trail. Get the coordination right and the evidence flows to the funder on time. Get it wrong and payments and compliance both come under pressure.

In-house or outsourced

You have a choice about where the coordinator sits. A housing association can use a suitably qualified member of its own staff, provided they hold the right qualification and TrustMark registration. Many providers do exactly that for smaller programmes.

At programme scale, though, most outsource, for two reasons. Capacity, because coordinating hundreds of dwellings is a full-time discipline that in-house teams rarely have spare. And independence, because a coordinator who sits outside the delivery of the measures can give impartial technical advice without any pull towards a particular product. If you are appointing an external partner, a good starting point is a proper retrofit assessment of your stock, which gives the coordinator the baseline they need.

What to look for when appointing

Five things separate a strong appointment from a risky one.

Qualification. A retrofit coordinator should hold the Level 5 Diploma in Retrofit Coordination and Risk Management and be registered through a TrustMark scheme. Ask to see it.

Accreditation. Confirm they are TrustMark and PAS 2035 accredited as an organisation, so the lodgement and the audit trail are secure.

Capacity. Ask how many dwellings they can coordinate a month, and whether that matches your programme's pace. A coordinator who cannot keep up becomes the bottleneck for the whole scheme.

Track record. Ask for evidence of funded social housing delivery at a similar scale, ideally with the EPC outcomes achieved.

The wider team. A coordinator is only as good as the retrofit design and installation around them. Appointing a coordinator who can also call on assessors, designers and installers under one roof removes the seams where things usually go wrong.

How to appoint compliantly

Public procurement rules apply, so most housing associations appoint through a framework or dynamic purchasing system they are a member of, by direct award or mini-competition. That gives you a compliant route to an accredited coordinator without a full open tender. Our frameworks and procurement page sets out the routes we are appointed to.

Where we fit

Greener Solutions Group provides TrustMark and PAS 2035 accredited retrofit coordinators for programmes of all sizes, backed by in-house assessors, designers and installers. That means the coordination, the post works EPC evidence and the delivery all sit with one accountable partner, rather than being stitched together across suppliers. You can see the full picture on our PAS 2035 retrofit services page.

Appointing for a programme?

If you need an accredited retrofit coordinator for a funded programme, we can provide one, backed by the full delivery team. Explore our retrofit coordination service or get in touch to talk it through.