A consortium of businesses are piloting a new financial model to accelerate the retrofit of thousands of social housing homes.
The trial, which will be piloted on 1,000 homes owned by Places for People, will look to quantify the environmental, financial and health benefits for residents while acting as a real-world testbed for reducing the upfront cost of achieving net zero for landlords.
The pilot project will look at a number of different financing solutions to fund retrofits, including selling solar power the homes generate, retrofit credits and government grants.
The consortium of businesses, which is led by Pineapple Sustainable Partnerships, includes Places for People, NatWest, British Gas, Sero and Tallarna.
Miatta Fahnbulleh, Parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, said: “To reach our clean power by 2030 target, we are going further and faster in upgrading homes across the UK as part of our Warm Homes Plan. I welcome the move from British Gas and its partners to rollout low-carbon heating to more social homes, helping to cut emissions and strengthen our energy independence.”
Marcos Navarro, director and sustainability lead at NatWest Group, added: “It is fantastic to see this project moving forward, by exploring how the implementation of energy efficient measures, alongside financing solutions can help to reduce the financial burden on landlords, as well as improving the quality and comfort of homes and communities. We aim to build on the successes with Places for People to extend this approach to benefit other social housing landlords across the UK.”
Greg Reed, chief executive officer at Places for People, said: “Places for People recognises the critical need for fresh ideas in the social housing sector to address sustainability issues. By participating in this project, we’re driving progress towards our own sustainability goals while supporting the industry in developing innovative, scalable solutions to achieve net-zero emissions.”
Dan Rosenfield, managing director net zero at British Gas, added: “As part of our ambition to energise a greener fairer future, we are committed to helping households to decarbonise in a way that is simple and affordable. We are pleased to be part of this collaboration which is set to implement best practices, learnings, and technology. By doing this, we will help tackle decarbonisation at scale in the social housing sector and help social housing residents save money.”
