A cross-industry consortium is piloting a new financial model to quantify the environmental, financial and health benefits of retrofit in a bid to accelerate retrofitting thousands of social homes.
The consortium, which includes NatWest, social housing provider Places for People, British Gas, net zero consultant Sero and software specialist Tallarna, will base its trial on 1,000 homes owned by Places for People.
The partners say the aim is to achieve energy savings while reducing the upfront cost barrier via alternative financing solutions. They believe the project can serve as a blueprint for transforming social housing at scale across the UK. Among the financing ideas under exploration are selling the solar power the homes generate; retrofit credits; and government grants.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero Miatta Fahnbulleh 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 to roll out low-carbon heating to more social homes, helping to cut emissions and strengthen our energy independence.
The idea of the consortium, led by Pineapple Sustainable Partnerships, is to create a one-stop-shop for decarbonisation, simplifying the retrofitting process. They say that by simplifying the process and exploring project financing, the consortium they will be able to unlock a scalable solution for social housing providers – Places for People alone manages 245,000 properties
The consortium’s goal is to create a commercially viable model that can be easily adopted by the entire sector. NatWest is hosting a series of roundtables to discuss the project and its potential impact on the housing sector.
Greg Reed, Chief Executive Officer at Places for People, said:
We recognise 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.
