Spotlight on Loco Home Retrofit
In our latest member spotlight, we’re thrilled to be joined by Chris Carus, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Loco Home Retrofit.
What does your social enterprise do?
Loco Home Retrofit tackles the climate crisis by helping people make their homes warmer, greener, and cheaper to run by making home energy improvements, including insulation, solar panels and heat pumps.
We provide independent advice and whole-home plans using a fabric-first approach. We build trust and motivate action through place- and community-based approaches, reaching people and places often missed by public programmes.
Our mission is to make high-quality retrofit accessible, improving health, cutting carbon and reducing fuel poverty.
How do you do it?
We support homeowners across the Glasgow City region with technical advice, tailored plans, funding checks and access to vetted installers.
The funding landscape for home energy upgrades is complex, fast-changing, and often clouded by misinformation and rogue traders. As a not-for-profit, Loco Home provides what is too often missing: clear, trustworthy and independent guidance.
As a cooperative, our member-led model connects homeowners who have completed retrofits with those just starting out, sharing real experiences to build confidence and make the first step easier.
We also partner with local authorities and community groups to deliver joined-up, place-based initiatives that cut carbon while delivering social, economic and environmental benefits.
For local authorities, we help achieve energy efficiency, fuel poverty and climate goals through community engagement and tailored advice. For communities, we run events and peer learning sessions to inspire action.
Why should someone buy/use your product/services? What are the benefits, and what makes your organisation unique?
Making your home more energy efficient and free of fossil fuels can feel overwhelming, so Loco Home provides the support people need all in one place and guides them through the process. Our one-stop-shop service, providing technical advice, tailored plans, funding checks and access to vetted installers in one place, is designed to make retrofit simpler and more accessible.
We are not here to sell products—we focus on what is right for you and your home.
As a grassroots movement, we are tackling the climate crisis from the ground up.
What is the current focus for your social enterprise?
When I became a father, I started thinking about what the world might be like for my daughter when she is 20. I looked deep into climate change science and was horrified at the threats. It feels like something everyone should be jumping to act on. We cannot wait for our governments to take action – it is exactly the kind of problem where social enterprises can fill a gap.
Home retrofit is one of the biggest ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but it involves risk and can be costly. I want climate action to be accessible to everyone so I set out to remove barriers and build a community-led organisation that helps people take practical, informed steps that make a difference.
What is your personal motivation?
We are focused on scaling our impact by supporting more homeowners, especially in off-gas and fuel-poor areas, and deepening partnerships with local authorities, community groups and employers to support energy efficiency and net-zero strategies, plans and projects.
We are also developing better tools and pathways to help homeowners navigate retrofit with clarity and confidence.
What exciting things do you have coming up?
We are collaborating with community councils on pilot projects to reach people who often miss out on support, like those living in tenements, and we are hoping to work with more local authorities to help them develop new models of affordable retrofit support.
Building on our community engagement work, we are launching a new workplace programme to support staff wellbeing, CSR and sustainability commitments.
Workplace sessions on home energy, retrofit and climate adaptation will be available free of charge.
Who do you want to work with more?
We are keen to connect with funders, social enterprises, community groups and councils to expand support for those most affected by energy inefficiency and fuel poverty.
We would also love to work more with employers looking to support their staff with the impact of climate change and the rising cost-of-living.
As part of our community wealth-building ambitions, we would like to support local tradespeople to add energy efficiency to their skillset and business models. There is a need for many more green jobs, representing a big economic development opportunity. However, we need funding.
What’s your biggest challenge?
Lack of Government leadership, funding, installer capacity and public trust remain key challenges. Poor-quality work and mis-sold technologies have left homeowners out of pocket. A shortage of skilled installers adds to the issue.
That is why we prioritise independent advice, quality assurance, and connecting people with vetted installers to ensure retrofit is done properly and delivers real benefits.
Where do you see your organisation in 5 years?
In five years, we aim to be an established retrofit support organisation for Glasgow and west central Scotland—helping thousands of households each year while staying rooted in our community focus.
Something Loco Home is passionate about is tackling the challenge of retrofitting pre-1919 traditional tenement flats, which are an important and iconic form of housing throughout urban Scotland, especially in Glasgow. We will have made inroads into making retrofit possible for people in blocks of flats, including tenements.
We will have strengthened our one-stop-shop service with better integration, including financing options, and be working at a greater scale by supporting neighbourhoods to retrofit together to accelerate net-zero and achieve economies of scale.
What top tips would you give to other social enterprises?
Stay close to the people you serve and be clear on your values. Build partnerships that align with your mission. Impact takes time—stay focused and do not be afraid to push for systemic change.
Also, when you’re running a social enterprise, it is easy to get stuck in constant ‘go’ mode. Making time to slow down and really think is vital. That is when fresh ideas spark, better decisions get made, and we stay creative, innovative and ready to adapt.
For more information about Loco Home Retrofit, please visit their website and follow them on Facebook, LinkedIn, BlueSky and Instagram.
Want to read more Member Spotlights? Visit our blog. If you’d like to be featured, please email membership@socialenterprise.scot.