Its tools, data and advisory services enable users to analyse housing stock at scale, to create optimised upgrade plans for each home, and to deliver efficient retrofit projects. 

These projects could see homes improved with better insulation, new doors and windows or improved heating technology. Measures that drive down energy use and bills, improve people’s health, and cut carbon emissions. And with 9 million UK households spending more than 10% of their income on domestic energy, widescale retrofit is needed to address fuel poverty too.  

Supporting greener homes for millions

More than 100 organisations, owning more than 2 million homes, now use Cotality’s Portfolio tool to assess and manage the energy efficiency of their housing stock. Other Cotality products are used by homeowners and contractors working to upgrade individual homes, by local authorities working to reach net zero goals, and by mortgage providers.  

Cotality’s tools make tailored projections about the result of particular retrofit measures on a given property – from lowering bills to tackling health hazards. They can model how to bring properties in line with national standards, at least cost, and add important context like climate and health risks and socio-economic data.

“It’s wonderful being part of this retrofit scheme — it really feels like we’re doing our bit. And I’m not driving around in a petrol car anymore, which definitely makes me feel better. Actually, I feel quite proud…We’re just ordinary people living in our home, but it feels like we’re contributing to something much bigger than ourselves — even to the future of children not yet born.” – Tony Smith, Broadacres Cotality tenant

Sharing retrofit knowledge – and shaping policy too

Cotality’s 2012 Ashden Award win came as Parity Projects, before that business was acquired by (and incorporated into) Cotality in 2024. Parity Projects was founded in 2005 by Managing Director, Russell Smith, when he was undertaking a major retrofit of his own home. The challenges of getting the information he needed to carry out this work led him to develop the service which became core to Parity’s business. The company grew to become an important and innovative presence in the UK retrofit sector. 

In 2013 it created RetrofitWorks, now an independent co-operative uniting local installers, professionals, advocates, and community organisations around the country. In 2023 it played a leading role in setting up the National Retrofit Hub, to encourage knowledge sharing and sector collaboration. 

Now Russell and his colleagues are regularly consulted by government on the development of national retrofit policies, and continue to innovate – most recently with the launch of Ecofurb. This is the first national energy efficiency ‘one-stop-shop’ for homeowners and small landlords.

How did Ashden accelerate Cotality’s growth?

Ashden’s impact Cotality say the 2012 Ashden Award win helped to recruit high-quality staff, and offered a mark of quality that helped to secure business. But, Russell Smith says, “meeting other winners was the biggest boon – we have worked with many who continue to be our clients or partners to this day.

For more information on Cotality, click here.

Check out the rest of our fantastic winners from the 2025 Ashden Awards here.