More than 500 housing association homes across Liverpool city region will be retrofitted with energy efficiency measures in a £4.51m programme. Tony McDonough reports
Housing association homes across Liverpool city region will be retrofitted with energy efficiency measures in a £4.51m project.
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority will oversee the installation of external wall insulation, roof insulation, energy efficient doors and windows, heat pumps and solar panels. These will benefit more than 500 homes.
On June 10 the CA approved the money for Sefton Council’s Retrofit for the Future programme. This will apply to 519 homes across all six boroughs of the city region.
This will take the CA’s total investment in measures to tackle fuel poverty and reduce emissions to £58.65m. It will mean energy efficiency measures can be fitted to the properties of almost 5,500 low-income households. Almost 1,000 homes have been retrofitted to date.
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said: “Everyone in our city region should be able to live in a safe, warm home that doesn’t break the bank to heat. I want to help ease the burden on as many families as possible.
“We’ve invested almost £60m to help put money in the pockets of thousands of our most disadvantaged households. We are making their homes more energy efficient and cutting their fuel bills.”
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Sefton Council has been running the Retrofit for the Future programme, funded through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). It delivers the project in partnership with registered providers from across the city region.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is reallocating unspent funding from a number of other ERDF projects towards the programme. This will be delivered by the CA.
It is already investing £11.1m to work with nine housing associations to improve the energy performance of almost 1,250 social housing properties.
Consultation work has been carried out with housing associations to encourage expressions of interest. This has generated a list of eight potential projects. Those projects are currently going through a due diligence process.
Any projects not successful in this initiative will be developed for wave 2 of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. It is is anticipated this will be open for bids in autumn 2022.