We’re created a Resident Liaison Officer (RLO) Toolkit, designed to help housing providers build engagement strategies that work — and make them easy to put into practice.
Retrofit projects often face refusals, access issues, scheduling challenges, and customer concerns.
This toolkit draws on housing provider Broadacres’ experience, whose in-house Resident Liaison Officer model has overcome these challenges by putting people at the centre of delivery. It explains why RLOs are vital to successful retrofit programmes and offers practical guidance on how to support them.
What’s Available
We offer a variety of resources tailored to different topics:
🎥 Video – Hear from a senior manager, an RLO, and a resident about the Broadacres approach and the results it delivers.
📄 Case Study 1 – How Broadacres’ in-house customer liaison model delivers better outcomes, faster and fairer.
📄 Case Study 2 – How Broadacres works with contractors to build resident buy-in, removing barriers.
📘 Practical Guide – The case for establishing RLOs in retrofit programmes, and practical guidance on how to support them.
Access the Toolkit’s Resources
Download Case Study 1
How Broadacres’ in-house customer liaison model delivers better outcomes, faster and fairer.
How Broadacres works with contractors to build resident buy-in, not barriers.
The case for establishing RLOs in retrofit programmes, and practical guidance on how to support them.
How to Use These Guides
- Review your engagement model and identify gaps
- Benchmark against real-world best practices
- Support discussions with contractors and partners, and produce contractor briefs.
- Recruit, train or upskill RLOs
- Shape future retrofit programmes
⚠️ These resources are not designed to market or promote retrofit works or to gain initial buy-in from residents.
When to Use These Guides
These guides help at all stages:
- Before developing a new retrofit strategy
- During programme design and engagement planning
- When setting up or refreshing RLO functions
- When onboarding contractors or partners
- When evaluating programmes
- Anytime you need examples to strengthen a business case or funding bid
⭐ Resources Already Available
Easy Read and Plain English Guides
Created to make retrofit communication clearer and more accessible for tenants, these guides turn complex information into simple, supportive formats. They’re designed to help residents feel informed, confident, and genuinely involved in preparing their homes for retrofit.
Topics covered
- Energy Efficiency Improvements
- Loft Insulation
- External Wall Insulation
- Ventilation Work
- Air Source Heat Pumps
- Gas Meter Removal
Tenant Recruitment Toolkit
Designed to help housing providers build effective, people-centred strategies, the toolkit draws on Lancaster West’s pioneering tenant recruitment model—an approach that has built trust, improved services, and delivered retrofit success. It makes the case for recruiting tenants into retrofit roles and offers practical guidance on how to support them.
What’s available?
🎥 Video – Hear from senior managers and tenant employees about Lancaster West’s approach and its impact.
📄 Case Study by Shortwork – How the tenant recruitment model delivers better and fairer outcomes for tenants, staff, and retrofit projects alike.
📘 Practical Guide – Why social housing retrofit programmes should recruit tenants, the characteristics of successful resident skills and employment initiatives, and inspiration for putting the model into practice.
🔍 Want to go deeper? Explore the research behind the resources
Insights from Registered Providers and Delivery Partners
This report draws on conversations with social landlords and delivery partners across Greater Manchester. It sheds light on the structural, organisational and practical challenges of delivering people-centred retrofit — and highlights what is working well to overcome them.
Download here.
Tenants’ Experiences of Retrofit
A powerful collection of lived experiences from tenants who have completed, or are preparing for, retrofit works. The report offers an honest view of what retrofit really feels like: the disruption, the communication gaps, and the small but important things that helped tenants feel informed, respected and supported.
Download here.