Chris Carus, founder of Loco Home Retrofit CIC, a social enterprise helping Scottish communities lower their household emissions, is one of 16 social entrepreneurs from across Scotland to have secured a share of £77,000 from social enterprise start-up agency Firstport. Start It awards are part of the Scottish Government’s Social Entrepreneurs Fund, supporting individuals who are focussed on piloting new business ideas that tackle social and environmental issues.

Based in Glasgow, Chris was inspired to start his social enterprise after the birth of his first child, when he became acutely aware of the world they would be inheriting. Leaving his 18-year career in business, Chris went back to university to re-train, and ended up focussing on the decarbonisation of buildings.

With domestic buildings accounting for 15% of Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions [1], and heating being a core contributor, Loco Homes Retrofit CIC aims to help households implement energy efficiency measures, and low-carbon heating systems, by breaking down the knowledge and cost barriers that many people in Scotland face.

What makes Loco Homes Retrofit CIC unique is their community, place-based focus. They have designed a community engagement programme to help individuals and families understand the benefit of decarbonising their houses, as well as offering practical and affordable solutions for those wanting to make changes to their properties.

Chris Carus, Founder of Loco Homes Retrofit CIC, said: “I’m going to use the Firstport Start It grant to launch a community engagement programme. It will complement the revenue-generating activities providing retrofit advice. Importantly, it will also kick start our social aims of widening access to quality retrofit, while also supporting local building microenterprises who are otherwise at risk of being locked out of the Net Zero Transition.”

Josiah Lockhart, Chief Exec of Firstport said: “In this latest round of Start It awards it is exciting to see a great range of social enterprise ideas, from a variety of local authority areas. With COP26 around the corner, it’s promising to see environmentally focussed businesses, like Loco Homes Retrofit CIC, starting up using the social enterprise model to tackle the climate emergency. Their work, combined with many other social enterprises, will have a significant contribution to Scotland’s Net Zero goal of 2045.”