A consortium of housing providers has been awarded over £2.2m to help improve the energy efficiency of their homes.
Grand Union Housing Group and Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC) jointly won the grant funding under the Government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), with £1.2m going to Grand Union and just over £1m going to CBC.
The £2.2m will help Grand Union and CBC bring 374 of their lower performing homes up to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C rating, in line with government targets.
As part of Grand Union’s recent Retrofit Improvement Programme, they will be matching the funding with equal investment and have already identified 170 properties that will benefit from energy improvements over the next two years.
Doug Grace, Grand Union’s Director of Property Services, said: “The timing of this announcement couldn’t have come at a better time, given the cost-of-living challenges many of our customers are facing. This grant funding will help us to reduce fuel poverty for many of our most vulnerable residents by increasing the energy efficiency of their homes.
“Our overall aim is to ensure that we are making a positive impact on the environment and this funding means we can continue our work to be a more sustainable organisation.”
CBC will use the grant to invest in 204 homes, bringing their EPC rating up to C rating.
Up to £800m of funding has been made available as part of SHDF to support the installation of energy performance measures in social homes in England.
Grand Union Housing Group provides 12,500 homes for more than 27,000 people across Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Hertfordshire and is a member of PlaceShapers, a national alliance of more than 100 community-focused housing associations. Together they own and manage more than 920,000 homes and provide services to more than two million people. Find out more at www.placeshapers.org
