Empowering West Yorkshire’s Energy Efficiency
Home Energy West Yorkshire was developed as a forward-thinking digital platform designed to help residents understand and improve the energy efficiency of their homes.
In response to rising energy costs and growing environmental awareness, the initiative set out to turn complex information into practical guidance. The result was a user-centred platform that gives residents personalised, actionable recommendations to support both household cost savings and wider sustainability goals.
The challenge
Residents lacked access to clear, personalised advice on how to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. Existing information was often fragmented, overly technical and difficult to apply to individual circumstances. At the same time, complex government datasets were not being used in a way that felt accessible or meaningful to everyday users.
We think
Discovery & User Research
Our strategy was to create a user-centred digital experience that simplified complexity and gave residents the confidence to act.
To do this, the experience needed to shift users from confusion to clarity, from passive awareness to active decision-making, and from generic advice to personalised recommendations. This meant designing around a clear set of principles: clarity, reassurance, accessibility and consistency.
The approach was collaborative, iterative and insight-led. Working closely with WYCA and key partners, the project moved through a structured process from discovery to delivery, with ideas continuously validated through user research and design. This ensured the final platform was aligned not only with stakeholder priorities, but with the real needs, behaviours and expectations of residents across West Yorkshire.
Audience understanding was central to the strategy. The primary audience included homeowners and tenants with varying levels of knowledge about energy efficiency. To shape the solution, we conducted focus groups, developed user personas and mapped user journeys to identify pain points, motivations and opportunities. This helped create a platform grounded in real-life needs rather than assumptions.
We do
We delivered an end-to-end digital solution spanning research, strategy, design and development.
From a UX and journey design perspective, this included user journey mapping, sitemap development, wireframing and prototyping to create a simple and intuitive user experience.
From a content and messaging perspective, we translated technical energy information into clear, user-friendly language. Recommendations were structured in a way that reflected each user’s inputs, making the guidance feel tailored, practical and easy to follow.
From a technical perspective, the platform was developed in Umbraco CMS and integrated with government public APIs to transform complex datasets into useful, personalised outputs. Rules-based logic was implemented to generate recommendations based on individual household characteristics, helping users understand the most relevant next steps for their home.
To support long-term performance and governance, the platform was built with secure handling of user data, integration with trusted third-party providers, and a scalable, maintainable architecture that could evolve over time.
We Measure
The outcome was a scalable, user-friendly platform that successfully bridged the gap between complex energy data and practical action.
For users, this meant gaining clear, personalised recommendations tailored to their homes. Understanding potential energy improvements became simpler and more accessible, enabling residents to move forward with greater confidence.
The platform improved clarity by turning technical datasets into straightforward outputs, strengthened confidence by helping users make informed energy-related decisions, and increased trust by connecting residents with credible partners for further support.
