Starting your Community Building's Green Journey Right!

Lots of our community buildings want to improve their energy effiiciency.  This can be because they need to reduce their energy costs, or because they want to improve the environment - or both! We also know this can be a confusing journey to start out on.  Finding the right solution, or getting trustworthy advice can be difficult, grants funds are competitive, and it can be hard to know where to start.  If this sounds familiar, don't worry, we are here to help!

We are here to help lighten the load and provide friendly, practical support where it’s most needed. 

Whether you run a village hall, a community centre, a church building, or any other kind of shared space, we’re here to help you make positive, practical changes that benefit your building, your budget, and your community.  

“We're here to empower communities with the knowledge, tools, and confidence to take action on climate and energy.” — Rik Martin, CEO 

Getting the mindset right

Successful energy efficiency projects follow the energy hierarchy, and we know from our work on various funding panels that a lot of groups miss the first two steps.  

To help out we have made a couple of short videos to talk about how to get started on these steps.

Step 1 - Change Thinking

Going Green is bigger than just your building Video/a> by Community Action Norfolk

Step 2 - Prevent Energy Loss

CCP Video 1 by Community Action Norfolk

More Help and Resources

It's a lot to take in and think about, so we have gathered together some more information and useful links to help.

Energy & Decarbonisation Planning 

We can send you a template decarbonisation plan to tailor to your situation.  This includes guidance and an energy efficiency self-audit - helping you to showcase what you are doing now and in the long term. 

One-to-One Support & Funding Guidance 

We can support our members by carrying out a funding search or proofreading their grant application.  You can see the difference our support has made in the past by clicking here.

Although we are not techincal experts, we can talk to you about your ideas and give you key insights or experiences from other similar buildings. 

Connecting to Resilience Planning & Local Coordination 

This can often feel like it's a step removed form improving your building, but our community buildings are usually the first place we think of when we start to plan how our community will prepare and respond to resilience issues.  We’re linking up with groups like CoastWatch and the Norfolk Rural Flood Resilience Partnership to help community buildings become more prepared for local risks such as flooding, coastal erosion, or health emergencies. We’ll also help you build or strengthen your emergency plans. 

You don’t need to be an expert. You just need to be ready to start a conversation, and we’ll help you the rest of the way! 

If you’re involved in running a community building and want to find out more about how we can support you, we’d love to hear from you. Whether you're ready to dive in or just want to explore what’s possible this is your invitation to get in touch.