Haig Housing has been successful in its bid for £2.6m of funding as part of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) Wave 2.1 from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).
This is the first time a charity has been able to apply for this funding and Haig Housing was instrumental in getting housing charities included in the eligibility for funding under the SHDF.
Haig Housing will work with E.On Energy Solutions to improve the energy efficiency of 360 properties as part of a wider project to improve 750 homes. In addition to this funding, Haig Housing is investing a further £7.5m of its own funds into the project. The work will take place from April 2023 to April 2025
The aim of the SHDF is to help improve the energy efficiency of social housing, Haig Housing will use the SHDF funds as part of a wider investment in the first phase of a multi-phase project to improve its entire housing stock.
Wave 2.1 of the SHDF will see homes, which are currently below Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C rating, each home will be assessed and specific plans put in place to improve energy efficiency. This will help Haig tenants combat fuel poverty as well as delivering warm homes whilst at the same time significantly lowering carbon emissions.
The work will be completed in partnership with E.On Energy Solutions and will tie in with existing planned and cyclical maintenance works with the aim of keeping the disturbance to residents to a minimum. Working on a worst-first, fabric-first approach using measures such as external wall insulation, loft, cavity wall and underfloor insulation, some properties will also receive renewable technologies such as solar photovoltaic panels.
Tim Stockings, Haig Housing Chief Executive commented:
“This funding is a real achievement for our team and our partners. It could not have come at a better time for Haig Housing as we drive our ambitious strategy to reduce our carbon footprint and explore how to decarbonise all 1,500 of our homes.
“Haig Housing is a charitable Trust providing homes to Veterans and their families in housing need and the team, led by Dan Gatenby, worked hard to get housing charities to be included in the eligibility for funding under the SHDF.
“We put our beneficiaries at the heart of everything we do and the award of this funding will speed up our plans for making our homes even better for our Veteran community. As fuel bills continue to soar, there is a growing financial burden for households across the country and this funding will help us speed up our plans to tackle this issue.”
Dan Gatenby, Haig Housing Sustainability Manager said:
“We are committed to reducing the carbon emissions of our properties and delivering on our net zero carbon targets in order to provide more energy efficient homes and sustainable communities for our beneficiaries. This funding will enable Haig to upgrade a significant number of our homes.
“In partnership with E.On we are looking at delivering industry leading retrofitting projects. Innovation is key to address the challenges of retrofitting our particular housing stock and we are planning on making not only our homes more sustainable but our business processes and standards too.”
