Decarbonising the UK’s social housing stock was never going to be easy – but a recent article in Inside Housing revealed just how local authorities are struggling.
17 councils were initially granted funding as part of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator, and yet by the deadline of December last year nine had confirmed they hadn’t retrofitted a single property.
The project allocated £61m to retrofit more than 2,100 social homes to have an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of C or higher, but only Clackmannanshire – with only 15 homes – had completed its retrofit project, while Warwick Council has actually returned the funding due to ‘unachievable deadlines’.
The key challenges in social housing decarbonisation.
While it currently takes over 35 days to retrofit a property, all of the councils cited supply chain problems, and limited access to properties during lockdowns and a shortage of skilled labour were also key factors.
At NetZero, we’re very familiar with the challenges landlords face in decarbonising their housing stock – and we offer solutions to each.
To begin, each home will need a property-specific solution to find the optimum cost to deliver the optimum carbon reduction. Our solution uses remote monitoring technology, allowing data-led analysis of where best to target for effective decarbonisation. This same technology also provides performance data to help evaluate the impact of the works and protect against the main risks of retrofit (damp, over/under heat and resident learning).
Upgrading properties with new technology also means upgrading with new skills to fit it, of course – and our sister company NetZero Training is already delivering those skills alongside training to help residents get the most out of greener technologies.
While the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator may not have gone to plan so far, NetZero Solutions can help any local authorities who really want to meet their net zero obligations do it efficiently and effectively. Just get in touch to discuss how we can help you effectively decarbonise your portfolio of property.