News

Joint bid submitted for home energy-efficiency improvements


We've teamed up with the Greener Herts partnership - housing associations B3Living, Settle and Watford Community Housing - in a bid to secure £13.5million from the Government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) for energy-efficiency improvements to more than 1,400 social housing properties.

The bid, which has been submitted in the second wave of the SHDF, could see homes across all four organisations receive energy-efficiency improvement works including loft insulation, external wall insulation, draught proofing, installation of solar panels and low-energy lighting.

The funding bid is in addition to a combined pledge of £25million from ourselves, B3Living, Settle and Watford Community Housing. The results of the bid are due to be announced in spring 2023.

The first wave of the SHDF saw £179million offered to 69 projects across the country earlier this year (2022), enabling 20,000 social housing properties with poor energy performance to be upgraded, helping to cut fuel bills for tenants, improve the warmth of homes and reduce carbon emissions.

Gavin Cansfield, Chief Executive at Settle, said on behalf of the partnership: “Greener Herts and Dacorum Borough Council have come together to submit this bid as part of our work to improve homes and meet our targets to be net zero by 2050, or before. No one needs me to tell them how important this area is. The benefits of lower carbon homes are numerous, including many benefits to those living within them, as well as to the environment.

“Working in partnership is vital – the more we join forces, the more influence we have. We look forward to hearing if our bid has been successful in the new year and will continue to focus on producing energy-efficient homes whatever the outcome.”

Greener Herts was formed in an attempt to allow the housing associations to achieve more “tangible results” when making homes more energy-efficient and cost-effective for customers. The organisation has a joint ambition to achieve a completely net zero carbon footprint by 2050.