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4 minute read
Massive green investment for North-East housing association
Steve Heywood, media manager
A North-East housing association has received one of the largest single funding pots given out by Government to date to help make their customers’ homes more energy efficient.
Home Group has received over £28m from the Government’s Warm Homes fund – the fifth largest amount given to an individual housing association.
The Newcastle-based housing provider will invest close to £40m themselves, bringing the total investment to around £70m, which will allow them to retrofit 3,500 homes.
Over 60% of the homes being retrofitted will be in the North-East region, while the remaining work will be carried out in Cumbria and a small amount in the South East.
Home Group have already retrofitted over 1,000 homes in the region as part of Wave 1 and 2 of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), which preceded the Warm Homes Fund.
The scope of works to the homes will include solar panels, cavity wall and loft insulation top-ups, new energy efficient double-glazing, front and rear door replacements.
In addition, existing heating and hot water systems in around 800 homes will be replaced with low carbon heating systems.
As one of the Government’s strategic partners, Home Group received the funding through the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s Strategic Partnership route, aimed at supporting large-scale retrofit projects by providers with a proven track record in delivering improvements at scale.
Home Group has now secured over £37m from the three funds to improve the efficiency of 4,590 homes.
Will Gardner, Executive Director of Asset and Development at Home Group, said: “We’re delighted to have been chosen for this round of funding. The properties we retrofitted in Waves 1 and 2 of the SHDF have made such a difference to the efficiency of our homes. They have also helped customers make significant savings on their energy bills.
“We’re also really pleased to have received such a substantial amount of funding given the fund was massively oversubscribed.”