Mapping emerging subcontracting networks for the energy efficiency retrofit of hard-to-treat buildings

The Energy Efficient Scotland Programme is the Scottish Government's flagship programme for improving the energy efficiency of every building in Scotland. This Programme represents an unprecedented effort to retrofit the entire Scottish building stock, but mixed-use urban buildings offer a particular challenge. Energy Efficient Scotland will run over the next 15-20 years and its delivery is critical for achieving ambitious targets to reduce emissions by 23% and 59% from domestic and nondomestic buildings, respectively, by 2032. Actors from across private, public, and civic sectors are critical for retrofit delivery. However, the contractual relationships, communication, and trust networks in place for energy retrofitting are currently unknown. Understanding of these supply chains is essential for identifying where responsibility lies for different activities, particularly in buildings of mixedownership. Consequently, this paper combines Social Network Analysis and qualitative interview data to explore communication and trust amongst an emerging supply chain for a retrofit project in a hard-To-Treat mixed-use building. The results show that contractual, communication, and trust networks do not always overlap, with actors in influential roles carrying less risk, for example This provides critical understandings for policy makers seeking to develop clear guidance for roles and responsibilities of different actors involved in the delivery of national-scale energy retrofit. © 2019 Association of Researchers in Construction Management, ARCOM 2019 - Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference. All rights reserved.