North East & Yorkshire Net Zero Hub Evaluation, and Midlands Net Zero Hub Evaluation

Steer-ED was commissioned to conduct evaluations of two out of five of BEIS’s (now DESNZ) local Net Zero Hubs, the North East & Yorkshire, and the Midlands.

The Hubs were established in 2017 to develop local energy strategies and intervention plans; and to support the development of pipelines of net zero energy projects up to the point of commercial investment.

How we helped

Steer-ED’s evaluation included both process and impact elements, delivered via qualitative and quantitative workstreams, including: a series of case studies, multi-stakeholder workshops, one-to-one consultations with internal and external stakeholders, and a detailed quantitative analysis of the expected carbon savings from projects. This was a complex task given that the majority of projects have not yet been implemented, and the Hub played only a partial role in catalysing each project. Steer-ED worked closely with BEIS and with the evaluators of the three other Net Zero Hubs to ensure consistency of methodological approach across the five evaluations.

Successes and outcomes

We successfully evaluated the Hub, assessing the process, impact, and value for money. The findings will inform the client about how well their processes are working and what could be improved, which types of projects are delivering the biggest impact, and whether or not they are currently delivering value for money.

We developed a set of recommendations, jointly with the Hub team members and based on our evaluation findings, which we have presented to the client in the final report and are now being implemented by the Hubs. The recommendations should lead to better processes within the Hub and improvements in addressing local net zero needs, governance structures, building and managing stakeholder relationships, and programme reporting and monitoring.