Kada Research were commissioned by Decerna in January 2025 to undertake an evaluation of their two UKSPF funded business support programmes, the Tees Valley Net Zero (TVNZ) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) programmes.

Across 2023 and 2024 Decerna were awarded approximately £2.5m in UKSPF funds to deliver the two business support programmes. The Tees Valley Net Zero (TVNZ) programme provided comprehensive support to businesses across Tees Valley, enabling them to transition towards net zero by offering tailored advice, practical tools, and grant funding. The Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) programme addressed the growing importance of environmental accountability in supply chains by helping SMEs obtain EPD certifications and develop sustainability capabilities. Decerna’s support helps companies develop EPDs and as such facilitates access new markets, creating commercial benefits for the companies supported.

Kada’s evaluation focused on assessing the success of the two programmes in respect to their contracted targets and the alignment with UKSPF priorities whilst incorporating a comparative analysis with previous similar ERDF projects. The evaluation adopted a mixed methods approach drawing on a mix of qualitative and quantitative research methods to assess the effectiveness of delivery processes and evidence the programme’s impact.

The two programmes evidenced strong performance, meeting or exceeding all contracted targets. From the perspectives of stakeholders the programme is widely seen as addressing a critical gap in business support for net zero initiatives and displayed a strong alignment between the programme and local, sub-regional, and national policies. The two programmes combined generated a Net Present Value (NPV) of £2.41m with a return on investment of 1.2:1.

The evaluation also highlighted some wider and unexpected benefits including increased networking and collaboration and the way in which sustainability became a selling point for businesses. In addition to the creation of opportunities for the fostering of a more engaged local business community some participants found that after engaging with the programme, they were better positioned to attract clients and contracts that required sustainability commitments. The evaluation built on these lessons learnt to suggest a series of recommendations to take forward.

If you are thinking about commissioning an evaluation study or if you would like to talk through an idea or hear about this work, you can contact us at info@kadaresearch.co.uk.

Kada Research were commissioned to evaluate the Low Carbon Business Support Programme led by Sheffield City Council and part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The aim of the Low Carbon Business Support Programme was to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy in SMEs in South Yorkshire. It provided support to help identify, fund, and implement energy efficiency improvements for SMEs and help reduce the barriers to decreasing their energy consumption and carbon emissions.

Through the provision of an audit, which provided recommendations for low carbon improvements, and matched financial support, the programme: increased awareness and understanding of the benefits of and options for improving energy efficiency amongst SMEs; increased uptake of energy efficiency initiatives amongst SMEs and reduced carbon emissions and energy consumption. Additionally, the project evaluation anticipated the potential for the project to reduce outgoings for SMEs, improving competitiveness, resilience and productivity.

The summative assessment process aimed to provide an evidence-based evaluation of the Low Carbon Business Support Programme, assessing the project against its objectives and highlighting any lessons learnt for the future. In terms of our approach, a desk review was undertaken assessing the original rationale for the project and how it fit with local, sub-regional and national policy strategies. Performance against ERDF targets and the economic impact of the programme were considered: a robust quantitative impact evaluation of project performance was undertaken including a review of contracted expenditure, outputs, wider employment and GVA gross and net impacts. A value-for-money assessment was also undertaken.

Project beneficiaries were engaged via an online survey to assess the overall impact on businesses. Kada’s researchers also spoke to key stakeholders and delivery partners to assess the effectiveness of the process of delivery, including management, administrative, and delivery mechanisms, as well as operational characteristics. Strengths, value added, challenges and lessons were summarised in the evaluation report.

Businesses providing feedback via the online survey were highly satisfied with the quality of the support they received. Grant recipients found their investments into energy efficiency technologies helped them decrease their energy usage.

Through interviews with the delivery partners and beneficiary feedback, Kada found that the Low Carbon Advisors understood commercial pressures facing businesses. The advisors shaped programme delivery around a clear understanding of the operational difficulties facing businesses. They also helped businesses to improve their understanding of potential energy and carbon savings and supported engagement with the audit reports. Beneficiaries valued the advisors’ use of business terminology to build cost and energy saving understanding.

Bridget Bradbury-Hickey, Project Manager stated:

If you are thinking about commissioning an evaluation study or if you would like to talk through an idea or hear about this work, you can contact us at info@kadaresearch.co.uk

The Mayor of London’s Local Energy Accelerator (LEA) was evaluated by Kada at the end of 2023. The £9.5 million LEA programme was jointly funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Mayor of London between June 2016 and July 2023. LEA supports the development of large-scale decentralised energy in London. It provided funding to public and private sector beneficiaries for expert technical support which produced concept plans, feasibility studies and business cases. This helped London organisations to access capital funds to invest in decentralised energy projects.

If you are thinking about commissioning an evaluation or if you would like to talk through an idea or hear about this work, contact the Project Director Sam Nair at sam@kadaresearch.co.uk or get in touch via info@kadaresearch.co.uk.

Kada Research was commissioned by the Greater London Authority (GLA) to evaluate the design, delivery, and impact of Solar Skills London. The Programme aims to develop the solar skills supply chain across the city which is vital for the city to achieve its net zero goals by 2030. The objective of the study was to assess Solar Skills London and consider the viability of such interventions in the future.

A Mayor of London funded initiative, Solar Skills London was launched in 2021 and delivered over two phases. In the first phase the GLA partnered with Solar Energy UK to design and deliver introductory workshops for potential solar industry trainees, launch online solar training and careers hub and a grants scheme to help businesses upskill existing employees. The workshops included a two-week introductory course followed by a six-week course which led to an opportunity to become an apprentice.

The second phase sought to increase the number of certified solar installers in London through a partnership with the Microgeneration Certification Service (MCS). Existing businesses were offered grants to help them become MCS certified and helped organisations navigate the process of becoming certified.

The process involved a range of research methods, including desk research, stakeholder consultations, an online survey with businesses who had received support, an online survey with learners from the workshops, and economic and environmental impact assessments for both phases of the programme.

All the quantitative and qualitative evidence enabled the team to produce a robust analysis of Solar Skills London’s performance, successes, and challenges. Kada worked closely with the client through the research process including co-designing the research tools and presenting and testing emerging findings and recommendations.

The economic analysis undertaken by Kada found that there would be a predicted £12.2m economic impact (net present value) over the next decade because of Solar Skills London. Additionally, 12,340 tonnes of carbon savings are predicted and a £6.9m (net present value) in energy savings for London residents is also predicted over the next ten years.

There was a high level of demand for the workshops and improvements within the delivery model, business engagement, and an iterative approach to curriculum development would unlock a significant number of solar installation employment opportunities.

If you are thinking about commissioning an evaluation or research into green skills or if you would like to talk through an idea or hear about this work you can contact us at sophie@kadaresearch.co.uk.

The Net Zero Pathway for Change (NZPC) Programme is an ambitious pilot which supports SMEs in Kent to decarbonize their businesses and increase understandings of net zero. The NZPC Programme was led by Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the University of Kent and was funded by the UK Community Renewal Fund (UKCRF). It focused on targeting small businesses who are the hardest to reach and lack the absorptive capacity to recognize the value of net zero, assimilate it, and apply it to their commercial environment. There is also a need to accelerate the local supply chain to enable decarbonisation in Kent at the scale and pace required if net zero goals are to be met. The Programme delivered net zero audits, expert workshops, innovation vouchers, and grants to aid local businesses in decarbonization.

Kada Research were commissioned to evaluate the NZPC Programme in line with the UKCRF guidelines. The evaluation investigated the Programme’s performance, successes and lessons learnt, and explored the effectiveness of the design and delivery of the Programme. This included stakeholder and beneficiary consultation, with over 50 businesses inputting into the evaluation, as well as a value for money assessment. The report concluded with impactful co-designed recommendations to support the future of net zero business support activities in Kent.

As part of the evaluation, Kada, in collaboration with a videographer, created two short video case studies based upon two the experiences of two innovation grant beneficiaries to demonstrate the success and impact of the Net Zero Pathway for Change Programme. This included interviewing the beneficiaries along with academics from the University of Kent which produced two high-quality, impactful, and engaging videos.

Here at Kada, we are keen to continue to work with clients to help make decarbonisation and a more sustainable future a reality. If you would like to know more about our work please contact sophie@kadaresearch.co.uk or sam@kadaresearch.co.uk.

The Mayor of London’s Retrofit Accelerator for Homes (RA-H) is an ambitious and innovative programme, jointly funded by the Mayor and the ERDF, to provide deep retrofit to social housing in London.

The programme provides technical advice and support to social housing landlords to deliver deep retrofit. RA-H also includes the Innovation Partnership (RA-HIP), an innovative procurement mechanism to design and deliver deep retrofit through collaborations with social housing landlords and UK building firms. The aim is to use social housing as a catalyst to kick start the deep retrofit market utilising offsite manufacturing, which is currently a very small market in the UK.

Kada was commissioned to provide a Summative Assessment of the programme and a Recommendations Report to inform future domestic retrofit in London and the Mayor of London’s projects and programmes. The Summative Assessment was fully compliant with ERDF evaluation guidance and used a combination of primary and secondary research methods.

It blended qualitative and quantitative approaches including economic analysis, interviews with stakeholders and beneficiaries, and five case studies, and explored the challenges and opportunities for RA-H and RA-HIP, concluding with lessons learnt for policy makers, those designing similar interventions, social housing landlords and UK building firms providing retrofit solutions, and the delivery team.

For the Recommendations Report evidence from the Summative Assessment was used alongside interviews with stakeholders with an interest and expertise in decarbonisation in London and nationally.

The report considered the strategic context of retrofitting, lessons from RA-H and RA-HIP, and proposed bold recommendations for the future of retrofitting and energy efficiency policy in London and beyond.

Funded by the Greater London Authority (GLA) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Retrofit Accelerator – Workplaces Programme (Formerly RE:FIT) aims to help London achieve its aims of becoming a zero-carbon city by 2050 by supporting public sector organisations to lower energy and carbon, with free retrofit projects. Kada was commissioned to conduct a longitudinal evaluation of the programme, consisting of four reports.

We have worked with the GLA to create a recommendations report considering credible options for the future sustainability of the programme, including opportunities in the wider non-domestic commercial retrofit sector. Kada was commissioned to help draft a bid to extend the programme, the bid (worth some £8m) was successful. An interim evaluation, based on stakeholder consultations, desk research and case studies, was completed in April 2020 and submitted to the managing authority as part of the GLA’s evaluation requirements. The assessment complements an earlier baseline report, prepared as part of the summative assessment process to ensure the right information and data was being collected in the correct format by the Retrofit Accelerator – Workplaces team. The final evaluation will report three months before the programme is due to end in September 2022.

Through competitive procurement, we selected Kada Research to support us with the evaluation of our ERDF-funded programme, the Retrofit Accelerator – Workplaces programme (also known as RE:FIT). Kada Research undertook a series of research work for us, including an interim evaluation and a recommendation report on the future of the programme. Kada have developed a very good understanding of the programme very quickly, asking relevant questions and coming up with very pertinent suggestions. Working with Kada over the past two years has been easy; they are responsive and have delivered research outputs on time, to budget and to a high standard. We will continue to work with them to lead on the programme’s summative assessment for ERDF

– Dr Sylvia Baron (Programme Manager, Energy Unit – Environment, Greater London Authority).

Get in touch: If you are thinking about commissioning an evaluation of a project or programme you are involved with. Contact me personally at karl.dalgleish@kadaresearch.co.uk and I will respond within 24 hours and give you a free no obligation consultation.

In light of the University’s new Climate Principles, Kada Research was commissioned by the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds to conduct a landscape review of the current and future potential activities of applied geoscience research, which has historically received significant funding from fossil fuel extractors and is, at least in part, represented by Petroleum Leeds.

We produced two reports.  The first looked at subsurface market opportunities for low carbon energy generation, subsurface energy storage and mitigation strategies for environmental change. The market review covered geothermal energy, carbon capture and storage (CCS), nuclear, and the mining of critical metals and rare earth elements. For each of these sub-sectors we reviewed the sectoral value and size, the key stakeholders involved, and examples of current and future projects from industry and research groups.  As part of the review, we spoke to leading figures in the energy industry. 

The second report assessed the current position held by Petroleum Leeds and identified strategic options to allow a planned and orderly transition towards decarbonisation and sub-surface research agenda. A desk-based review of internal activity and comparator universities was completed, combined with findings from interviews and workshops with University of Leeds staff and industry stakeholders.  We were asked to be bold when considering credible options. We presented a preferred option that included short term recommendations (to 2022) and medium-term recommendations (2022-30).

Many thanks for sending the report through, looks like another great piece of work.

– Andy Emery (PhD Researcher, School of Earth and Environment, Leeds).

I’d like to thank you for the comprehensive nature of the report – with the minor changes/clarifications I’ve added this will be an excellent starting point as we develop our strategy.

-Dr Rachael Spraggs (Senior Collaborations Manager, School of Earth and Environment and School of Mechanical Engineering)

Need to understand the marketplace better or map out a new direction for your department or organisation? Do get in touch and we will advise on some practical steps you can take. Karl.dalgleish@kadaresearch.co.uk

The proposed centre planned to: offer access to scale-up and equipment hosting facilities; develop new and established businesses and promote bio clustering activities. The consultant’s team role was three fold. (a) To assess whether there was demand for the centre from companies – NNFCC’s led on this part and conducted a review of prospective tenants in the UK and abroad. Their findings were very illuminating demonstrating demand for certain elements (b) To assess their proposed pricing structure. Here Kada worked closely with Atam Verdi at AspinalVerdi a leading regional property consultant. We looked at facilities across the UK and were able to make detailed comments on the proposed pricing menu to inform the client’s 10 year business plan (c) Finally we looked at the offer from comparator facilities to ensure we had a truly unique proposition. Kada worked with an inward investment specialist to assess the competition from Bio centres in the UK (NNFCC looked at global centres). We were able to suggest an innovation and wrap around support offer that would be compelling, building on the exceptional quality of life York has to offer and the many assets of the University and the proposed anchor tenant – the BioVale Development Centre.

The time scale was quite demanding on this study as decisions around the business case needed to be made by the LEP and others. Working in a consortium with a leading team of experts from the North, NNFCC and Kada were able to draw together an assessment of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the proposition and assist the client in taking their ideas to the next stage. The client claimed it was ‘a very useful exercise’.

“The key strength of the BioVale Centre offer is its universal wrap around support for industry in providing access to office, lab space, equipment, hangar space and the ability to integrate its own equipment with that of the Centre.

~ The BioVale Centre: Market Assessment, NNFCC / Kada Research, 2015

The aim of the evaluation was to assess the quality and impact of PiP interventions. The evaluation provides insights from co-ordinators and participants on their experiences of the programme since its formation some five years ago and draws on desk material, data and reports. It is anticipated the evaluation will act as a platform for its continued success and development over the next few years. As it has matured, the programme has been a very worthwhile experience for those involved and it can demonstrate that it has achieved far-reaching impacts amongst many participants across Europe. To help build upon this success and plan for the programme’s future development, the evaluation identified priorities for the programme including a three year strategic plan, enhancing the programme’s value proposition and taking advantage of new opportunities as part of the Climate-KIC education pillar.

“Pioneers into Practice (PiP) is one of Climate-KIC’s central initiatives designed to inspire, excite and effect lasting change. A knowledge development and placements programme, it brings together practitioners and others to explore, test and communicate evidence on different approaches to low carbon skills development.”

~ PiP Evaluation, 2015