My initiative is designed for and delivered in London
Yes
I am 18 years of age or above, by the application deadline.
Yes
My organisation is a registered UK entity and has a London-based address.
Yes
My organisation is a non-profit (e.g. school, university, or local authority) — not a for-profit, which can only join as a partner.
Yes
If there is a for-profit organisation as a partner in my initiative, they work on a cost-recovery basis only.
Yes
My solution is implemented at scale, or if not, I have a clear business plan, a minimum viable solution (prototype, pilot, or proof of concept), and evidence of work or impact in London within your coalition.
Yes
I am aware that, if I am submitting more than one application to a Challenge run by Ashoka and Go! London, only one of them is able to progress through the stages.
Yes
Are you an employee (and their children and grandchildren) of Ashoka or any of its respective affiliates and participating advertising and promotion agencies?
No
I have read and accepted the Challenge Terms & Conditions
1
First Name
Last Name
Pronouns
Email address
I would like to receive notifications and updates about Go London!, Ashoka, Ashoka Changemakers, and other Ashoka opportunities.
Are you an Ashoka Fellow?
Are you applying from an organization founded by an Ashoka Fellow?
If you are applying from an organization founded by an Ashoka Fellow, please specify the name and organisation of the fellow below.
Initiative Title
Green Skills For Greener Clubs
Lead Organization Name
Volunteer It Yourself CIC
My initiative is designed for and delivered in London
1
Year that you started/ registered your organisation
2015
Website URL(s) or Social Media Handles
volunteerityourself.org/ - facebook.com/viyproject/ - x.com/VIYproject - linkedin.com/company/volunteerityourself/ - instagram.com/viyproject/ - youtube.com/@viyproject
Initiative Stage
Established (You’ve successfully passed early phases and have a plan for the future. Your venture has been in existence for 6 years and above)
Sectors/Themes: What topic does your project most directly relate to?
Environment & Sustainability
Initiative Summary: Describe your initiative in one sentence
Our initiative supports young people and trade/construction skills mentors to work together to retrofit local community/grassroots sports clubs for greater energy efficiency and environmental resilience and sustainability, whilst also enabling the young ‘project learners’ to develop new retrofit and green construction skills to boost their employability.
Challenge Focus: What topic does your initiative most directly relate to?
Climate action through awareness and engagement
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve and who will benefit the most from your solution? How close are you to the problem and/or community impacted?
Grassroots sports clubs across London, and especially those in the most deprived locations, are facing severe financial pressure due to rising energy bills. Over 90% of clubs express high concern over the impact of high energy costs on their operations and future sustainability. Making the situation worse, over two thirds of clubs are struggling with ageing buildings with poor insulation and outdated, inefficient heating systems and lighting - resulting in facilities that are not welcoming/fit for purpose and under-used (Source: Sport & Recreation Alliance). At the same time, London is facing a major, urgent demand for retrofit skills (i.e. for adapting existing, older buildings for greater energy-efficiency and sustainability), with estimates suggesting 110,000 new workers are needed by 2030 to meet net-zero goals (Source: Innovate UK). Why these problems matter to us: VIY has 10+ years experience delivering community facility refurbishment/renovation projects across the UK working in the most deprived locations and we are now seeing increasing demand from clubs/venues struggling with older, energy-inefficient buildings and high energy costs. Also, our delivery model is focused on enabling NEET/at risk young people to gain vocational trade/construction skills that open up apprenticeships and job pathways and retrofit is an area of high need/high opportunity.
Your approach: How are you addressing the problem outlined above? How are you using the power of sport and physical activity to build awareness, shift behavior, and enable sustainable participation for all in response to the climate crisis? We'd love to know about the origin of your idea, and what was your "aha" moment" that led you to take action?
Our delivery approach involves empowering, supporting and working with young people and local communities to directly enable the completion of retrofit works at grassroots sports clubs for improved energy-efficiency, reduced energy usage/costs and increased environmental/financial resilience. Our plan (with the support of Go! London and existing VIY partners/match-funders) is to set up and deliver 5 initial projects with individual clubs in need in the most deprived/under-served London boroughs to demonstrate the model’s impact and value and to attract support to further upscale delivery over time. At the heart of our approach, at least 75 young people (aged 16+ and NEET/at risk) local to the 5 clubs will directly help to nominate/design and enable the works needed. In doing so, they will be mentored and work alongside professional tradespeople, develop new vocational green retrofit/sustainable construction skills, and gain qualifications that will open up ‘next step’ apprenticeship and employment opportunities. In this way, our approach will empower, inspire and upskill young people to actively participate in climate action in their local communities by boosting the environmental sustainability and resilience of local grassroots sports clubs they currently, or could, use and benefit from. ‘Aha moment’ was when we undertook our first retrofit-specific project at a sports club in Great Yarmouth in 2024. 20 NEET young people and their VIY skills mentors retrofitted the building over three weeks, achieving a 35% reduction in carbon emissions. 15 of the learners also gained a Level 1 qualification in Improving Energy Efficiency In Older Buildings. We are now successfully replicating this model in other locations and want to expand our work in London.
Collaboration with young people and the community: In what ways does your initiative engage young people and community members closest to the problem? What role do they play in building the solution you deliver?
Young people who use and benefit from local grassroots sports clubs will be invited to nominate their clubs for a VIY retrofit project. This will include a focus on engaging young people aged 16+ who are NEET or at risk of NEET and wish to actively co-create and participate in the projects as an inspiring/rewarding skills development/work experience opportunity. We will also engage/attract other local NEET/at risk young people (referred by local youth work organisations/youth service providers) who are currently not involved at the clubs in question but also keen to participate. The project learners will work with our Project Manager and Lead Skills Mentors to conduct an energy audit at each club to help identify and design the retrofit works needed and create a delivery plan. Local professional tradespeople will be recruited and inducted to serve as support skills mentors for the project learners, working together with and led by VIY’s own Lead Mentors. The learners will work alongside the skills mentors to enable the retrofit works at each club. In doing so, the young people will be supported in working towards and achieving formal entry-level qualifications (City & Guilds, NOCN) in relevant trades and more specialist green skills (i.e. retrofit and environmentally-sustainable construction). Once the project works are complete, we will also support the young learners to progress to relevant further training and apprenticeship/employment opportunities via VIY partners and other local employers. A wider audience of local residents and club members/users will also be invited to see the retrofit works being carried out to help drive broader awareness and understanding of the energy efficiency measures/low-carbon practices being adopted/implemented.
Potential for/Evidence of Impact: How do you imagine your initiative will make a difference in raising climate awareness, shifting behaviors, or reducing environmental impact or harm? If you have already implemented it, what difference have you made so far? What is the impact your initiative has had¡, and/or what impact do you envision having in the future?
Across the 5 initial club retrofit projects we’re proposing to deliver across London, outputs/outcomes to be evidenced will include: Completion of energy-efficiency retrofit works at each club (NB: the 5 projects will be delivered over Oct 2026-Dec 2027, i.e. 1 every 3 months). Achievement of reduced carbon emissions and energy usage/waste at each club - including uplifting the EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) energy ratings to at least C. At least 75 young people (16+ NEET/at risk of NEET) helping to co-design and deliver the retrofit works across the 5 clubs - and developing new green retrofit building/sustainable construction skills and gaining associated City & Guilds/NOCN qualifications. At least 25 local professional tradespeople trained in retrofit installation skills and directly participating/contributing as volunteer support skills mentors for the young people. Longer-term impact outcomes to be tracked will include: Clubs reporting improved energy management behaviours, increased sustainability and financial resilience, and diversity of users/members Young people successfully progressing to apprenticeships, jobs and further/higher-level training in retrofit/environmentally sustainable construction We’ve delivered 160 community facility general refurbishment/renovation projects in London to date, 80% located in the 30% most deprived wards. 3,000+ NEET/at risk young people have helped shape and co-deliver these projects, with 75% achieving a vocational skills qualification and 35% progressing to an employment or further training outcome. Our major delivery partners have included the GLA and Sport England. More than 50% of EOIs we now receive from clubs in London include a request for help with energy-efficiency retrofit works.
Innovation: What is different about your initiative compared to other solutions that are already out there? How is your approach original and innovative?
We believe that our project approach is innovative in the following ways: A ‘win-win’ delivery and impact model - greener, lower carbon and more sustainable grassroots sports clubs and young people developing new green employment skills in energy-efficiency/retrofit/sustainable construction Using the retrofitting of grassroots sports clubs that young people/local residents use and value to create a relevant, authentic context through which to build wider awareness and understanding of energy-efficiency and low-carbon measures, environmental sustainability and climate action. Combining volunteering and skills-sharing/upskilling to better catalyse and inspire young people and local communities more broadly to actively engage in meaningful, impactful climate action. Creating an accessible/inclusive community-based skills training and work experience opportunity that attracts NEET and ‘at risk’ young people who are excluded/disengaged from more conventional, mainstream education and training environments. As a legacy ‘by product’, helping to build the future skilled workforce urgently needed to deliver London-wide retrofit/carbon reduction/net zero targets. Using the retrofitting of grassroots sports clubs to achieve added value social/community impact (e.g. skills development/employment outcomes for young people, bringing people together, boosting ‘pride in place’, improving residents’ health and well-being).
Roles and Responsibilities: Describe how responsibilities are shared among your team or partners.
Our existing supporting partners: VIY’s retail trade partners (Travis Perkins, Toolstation, Dulux) - providing products and materials, helping to mobilise trade customers (professional tradespeople) as skills mentors VIY’s construction partners (including Balfour Beatty and Morgan Sindall) - offering apprenticeship and employment progression pathways Local youth referral partners - youth work/youth service providers local to each club/site wanting to refer young people (aged 16+, NEET or at risk of NEET) into the project as a compelling/rewarding work experience and skills development opportunity Project match funding partners (existing VIY funders specifically interested in supporting our work with grassroots sports clubs, e.g. Barclays, Toolstation, Sweaty Betty Foundation) - helping to cover the full delivery costs for each of the proposed projects (i.e. potentially £75,000 of match-funding towards five individual club projects to be delivered across five different boroughs) Our core delivery team (roles and responsibilities): Senior Project Manager - managing the overarching set up and delivery of each VIY project and each sports club project site Retrofit Manager - overseeing the design and delivery of all retrofit works in line with appropriate standards Youth Engagement & Progression Support Coordinator - managing/driving the participation of all young people/project learners, including upfront recruitment and post-project progression support Lead Mentors - delivery of formal guided learning for the project learners and underpinning the delivery and quality of all works at each club/project site Skills Assessor - assessment and accreditation of the project learners on each project to enable them to successfully achieve skills qualifications through their participation
Viability and Scalability: How are you setting your organization up for success, and what is your plan to ensure operational sustainability of your solution and its impact? What are your ideas for scaling your initiative to the next level?
Since our first retrofit-specific VIY project in Great Yarmouth in 2024, we have successfully delivered 14 retrofit-specific ‘pilot projects’ over the past 12 months across the country - and given the high number of EOIs we’re now receiving from grassroots sports clubs in London for help with retrofit works, our plan is to set up and deliver 5 initial projects with individual clubs in need in the most deprived/under-served London boroughs to demonstrate the model’s impact and value and to attract support to further upscale delivery over time. We also have existing partners/funders who already support our wider work across the country with grassroots sports clubs (including Barclays, Continental Tyres, Sweaty Betty Foundation and Toolstation). Accordingly, to enable the 5 new proposed retrofit projects in London, we anticipate that if we were to receive grant funding from Go! London, this would be readily matched by our existing partners. We are also currently receiving financial and capacity building support from Impetus to boost our impact for NEET young people on all VIY projects and this will help to ensure we deliver strong youth engagement and impact outcomes on these London retrofit projects. Impetus are also helping us to attract more core funding that will allow us to invest in growing our team resources and capacity in key delivery regions, including London.
Upcoming Milestones: Please provide an overview of the milestones that are required for your initiative to come to fruition/ to grow.
Sept 2026 - overarching project set-up, including: Agreement on target boroughs for 5 initial projects to be delivered - drawn from ‘long list’ of boroughs with higher levels of deprivation and lower levels of physical activity Identification/confirmation of the 5 individual club retrofit projects to be delivered with associated outreach and local community/council/stakeholder engagement activities Creation of impact measurement and evaluation plan Oct-Dec 2026 - set-up and delivery of project 1: Recruitment/induction of young people (the project learners/participants) - target of at least 15 learners per project Recruitment/induction of additional support/volunteer skills mentors to work alongside our own Lead Mentors Auditing of club and the works needed, including EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) assessment Risk assessments, detailed work planning & budgeting, scheduling Delivery of building retrofit works Delivery of guided learning for project learners Assessment and accreditation of project learners linked to achievement of formal skills qualifications End of project EPC assessment to evidence improved energy efficiency/energy savings Sign-off against works completed Delivery of employment progression support activities for project learners Exit surveys with learners and club Commence tracking of post-project progression outcomes for learners Jan-March 2027 - set and delivery of project 2 (as per project 1) April-June 2027 - set and delivery of project 3 (as per project 1) July-Sept 2027 - set and delivery of project 4 (as per project 1) Oct-Dec 2027 - set and delivery of project 5 (as per project 1) Jan-March 2028 - completion of all post-project evidence tracking/measurement and evaluation activities
Capacity-Building Participation and Support Funding: If you were to make it as a finalist, you will be required to participate in an 8-week capacity building programme. If funding/ cost is a barrier to your participation, we may be able to offer up to 10,000 GBP of grant money available to support you. Please break down below, if it is the case, what costs you would incur and you would need covered. (Please note that there are restrictions on how the grant money may be used; please refer to the T&Cs for further details (LINK).
Participation in the capacity building programme would not be a barrier for us. However, we would greatly appreciate support towards these costs if available. There are two key team members who we would look to involve in the capacity building programme, our Senior Project Manager and Youth Engagement & Progressions Support Coordinator. Given that they work full-time on supporting live project delivery, taking them out of their ‘day-to-day’ to attend the capacity building programme would require us to back fill their positions to ensure our live programmes are not impacted. Our standard daily rate for these team members is as follows: Senior Project Manager: £190 Youth Engagement & Progressions Support Coordinator: £120 We’re also conscious that they would incur some associated travel expenses as part of taking part in this programme, which we would factor this in as part of the total participation costs. Support towards these staffing back fill and travel costs would allow us to fully engage in the capacity building programme while maintaining consistent delivery of our existing programmes.
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