Posted on 29 April 2024
Our customers will enjoy warmer winters, cooler summers, and lower energy bills thanks to a major programme to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.
The programme, which will see us retrofit 951 of our homes in Chichester, is supported by a successful £40m Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund bid by the Greener Futures Partnership (GFP). Of the £40m, we were awarded £6.4m to deliver these retrofits.
We’re one of the five GFP partners, together with Anchor, Abri, Home Group and Sanctuary. The GFP plans to retrofit more than 5,000 homes, with a total planned investment of more than £90m. The funding, from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, is the third highest allocation at £40.4m.
Diana Lock, our Energy and Sustainability Manager, said: “This is great news for our customers and the GFP. Improving the energy efficiency of our homes will make a big difference to our customers’ cost of living and quality of life. It also helps us take a big step towards our ambition of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
“I’m pleased to say that we’ve matched the funding for a total investment of £12.8m as part of our energy commitments.”
Our contracting partners, Wates Construction, Breyer Group, the AD Group and Purdy, are delivering the work, which includes upgrading heating systems, fitting solar panels and radiators, and increasing insulation in walls and lofts.
These measures are designed to help cut energy use and lower carbon emissions. We’re also improving ventilation, to help reduce the potential for damp, mould and condensation.
Customers will receive bespoke in-home energy advice, as well as training on how to use the new technology effectively. We’ve also building a showroom, to give them a chance to get hands on with the improvements planned for their homes.
Diana added: “We’re really proud of the work we’re doing to improve our customers’ comfort, to reduce their energy use and to help them save money.”
We recently carried out similar retrofits to our homes in Kent. During a tour of the project, David Betts, Councillor and Cabinet Member for Housing, commented that the changes to the comfort and costs of heating the homes were ‘phenomenal’.