In 2019, the government outlined the new Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF).
Along with this came a proposed £3.8bn available over a 10-year period, in an attempt to decarbonise a significant amount of the UK's social housing stock.
In England alone, homes produce more carbon emissions each year than cars on the road. In the current climate of the seemingly, never-ending energy crises, the number of homes leaking energy is adding hundreds of pounds to residents’ energy bills, and them not being able to afford them. This time is crucial to get the housing stock up to the standard Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C by 2030.
Social landlords are eager to start the journey to decarbonising all of their stock. They have set out to complete this as quickly as possible to tackle the current climate emergency and fuel poverty – a great start has already been made, with the partnership through the governments’ SHDF.
By 2050, carbon dioxide emissions from buildings must reach zero, as outlined in the government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy. To reach this goal, every single fossil fuel heating system must be replaced by clean heat technology – heat pumps which are powered by decarbonised electricity or decarbonised heat networks.
It’s been 5 years since the Grenfell tragedy, and the fire safety and cladding retrofit regulations have been tightened, making this more challenging for landlords. For housing associations to accomplish new targets they should be made aware of a fabric-first approach. They should not be retrofitting for the sake of retrofitting. Fabric first consists of looking at the components and materials that make up the building itself, before considering the use of technology. Looking at insulation first as this is a major issue in many homes.
Based on a recent study conducted by the National Housing Federation and the Local Government Association , their results show that almost all homes can be decarbonised. With only 2% at present that would be technically hard to decarbonise, we are confident that new technology and a change in regulations would help solve these challenges by 2050.
With the inflation of costs within retrofit and clean heat technology, it is estimated that 5% of social homes will cost more than £20,000 each to decarbonise, and that is with them being very conservative with costs. Landlords can look to reduce costs by planning to utilise their funding efficiently through investing in a fully compliant carbon reduction retrofitting service to take the complexity out of Carbon Zero. Retrofitting services can be expensive; sourcing double/triple glazing, heat pumps, solar panels, insulation, etc. from multiple organisations will increase costs due to lower order volumes, complicate logistics and potentially impair quality control. Consider planning your retrofit with a provider such as LivGreen who can carry out the works all the way from stock analysis through to delivery, monitoring and support. Using a single provider will benefit the landlord with ease of communication, reduced costs and time saved, making the journey to compliance a lot simpler.
As a whole, there needs to be a commitment to the urgency of needing to decarbonise homes and for social housing to be at the forefront of this in the country’s drive to net zero. To avoid catastrophic damage to climate change as well as to make homes more comfortable and affordable for all stakeholders.