Housing provider Plus Dane to invest £8m on retrofitting 400 Liverpool homes with energy efficient measures including solar panels, insulation and triple glazing. Tony McDonough reports
Plus Dane is to retrofit 400 homes in Liverpool with energy efficiency installations in an £8m programme.
In August, Plus Dane secured over £4m from the second wave of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund in partnership with Mayor Steve Rotheram and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.
This has been matched by the affordable housing provider, making a pot of £8m. Work on the 400 homes in the Liverpool 8 area of the city will begin this week.
Aim of the programme is to improve the energy performance rating of homes ranging between bands D-G and improving these homes to a C energy rating or better.
Plus Dane homes identified in the Dickens Streets, Welsh Streets and Camelot Streets, have been energy assessed and the eligible homes will now be offered a detailed property survey. This will lead to energy improvement works over the coming months.
This retrofit energy assessment survey, and delivery of the improvement works will all be completed by Plus Dane’s contracting partner Next Energy.
Depending on the outcome of each survey, improvements will include loft insulation, solar panels, underfloor insulation, smart controls, cavity wall insulation, low energy lights, internal wall insulation, triple glazed windows and external wall insulation.
Plus Dane chief executive Ian Reed said: “Funding from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund will really make a difference to what we can achieve when looking to improve the energy efficiency of our homes in L8.
“Making our homes more energy efficient is a key goal for us. With the cost of living crisis dragging on, these improvements will make sure more than 400 of our customers won’t need to use as much energy to keep their homes warm and cosy.”
Plus Dane previously received £1m from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund’s first Wave, allocated through the Combined Authority to help 10,000 low-income homes save money on their energy bills.
Previous Plus Dane retrofit projects have included extensive cavity wall, external wall, and roof insulation, plus a pilot scheme installation of a ground source heat pump at a development in Wirral.
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Cllr David Baines, Combined Authority Portfolio Holder for Net Zero and Clean Air, added: “We know that if we are to successfully reach our target of becoming net zero carbon by 2040, we need to halve our energy use in the city region.
“The situation in our homes is even more challenging, as we will have to cut energy use by 60%. We are working really hard with our local authorities and housing associations to retrofit energy saving measures to as many houses as possible.”