More than £47m in funding has been granted to improve the energy efficiency of up to 4,226 socially-owned homes in the region. The Midlands Net Zero Hub has successfully secured the grants from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and plans to use The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to improve homes.
This will be done by making the properties warmer in the winter whilst also reducing energy bills and carbon emissions. The Hub worked in partnership with 14 housing associations and 10 local authorities and used experience of previous projects to secure the funding.
The grants will be used to issue a ‘fabric-first’ approach, which will involve more than 15,000 measures such as insulation, draught-proofing and double glazing installed to improve the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of the properties. This approach also ensures renewable technologies, including heat pumps, are more effective.
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Nearly £600,000 of the grant funding will be used for developing digital technologies to support smart building use, such as sensors to monitor the effectiveness of the measures installed. The information collected will then be used to make improvements to retrofit work in the future as well as identifying issues such as damp and mould within properties and flagging fuel poverty.
Additionally through the fund, Wave 2.1 will support an estimated 356 jobs in the region, which will help to grow the green economy and improve opportunities for those working in the retrofit sector. Michael Gallagher, Head of Midlands Net Zero Hub, added: “I’m delighted that the Hub’s domestic retrofit team has secured more Government funding to help mitigate rising cases of fuel poverty in the region.
"Not only do schemes like SHDF make homes more comfortable for tenants and reduce energy bills, they also help to minimise carbon emissions from domestic properties. We are committed to supporting the country’s target to be net zero by 2050 through the work that we do both across the region and nationally."
These homes will have cavity wall, external wall and draught-proofing installed, which will result in lower bills for Nottingham City Homes residents and support the city’s ambition to be carbon neutral by 2028. Councillor Sally Longford, Portfolio Holder for Energy, Environment and Waste Services, said: “It’s fantastic news that the Midlands Net Zero Hub has successfully bid for £47m to improve the energy efficiency of homes in the region.
"Reducing emissions from the county’s buildings is vital as nearly a quarter of the UK’s carbon footprint comes from heating and powering homes This presents a huge challenge as much of the country’s housing stock was built before the 1990s, so poor insulation and fossil fuel heating is widespread.
"With energy prices soaring, it is more important than ever that we make sure our homes are fit for the future.”
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