HOUSING
THE SOCIAL HOUSING DECARBONISATION CHALLENGE In its Clean Growth Strategy, the Government set out its ambitions for a lowcarbon future with the decarbonisation of social housing high on the agenda. As social landlords across the UK grapple with the challenge of achieving Energy Performance Certificate C ratings across all social housing by 2030, Wates and its social housing energy services partner, Energy Specifics, explore the main challenges now facing the sector. sheer volume of social T hehousing that requires retrofitting with energyefficiency improvements gives us some sense of scale for the challenges ahead,” explains Amy Smith, Partnerships Director at Wates Property Services. “There are over five million social housing properties in the UK. If we’re to achieve the long-term target of net zero by 2050, we would need to retrofit three homes every minute. But pace isn’t the industry’s most pressing challenge; we’re having to react fast to new legislation and retrofitting isn’t a process that can (or should) be rushed. The industry needs to catch up, to upskill and firmly understand
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the evolving funding solutions so we can help social landlords prepare their housing stock to meet zero-carbon obligations.” In November 2020, Wates launched its partnership with Energy Specifics to provide a fully-compliant, carbonreduction retrofitting service with the objective of providing landlords with the tools to deliver a ‘whole house’ energysaving retrofit solution. Amy added: “Carbon retrofitting simply can’t be done without working in partnership. Energy Specifics is one of a few companies already operating under the PAS 2035 retrofit standards framework. They bring the technical expertise, compliance and funding
knowledge and we bring the retrofitting capability. By pooling our expertise, we are better able to guide social landlords through their carbon retrofitting programmes.” Tim Freeman, Director of Energy Specifics, adds: “The net-zero-by-2050 target is undeniably vast and for social landlords the decarbonisation journey will be fraught with unknowns. Ultimately, we are all driven by the same goals – to reduce carbon emissions and combat fuel poverty. But how do we get there? It’s an everchanging landscape; funding is constantly evolving; new carbon reduction innovations are continually brought to market. Our partnership
with Wates is designed to help customers look at what funding is available within a changing landscape and work collaboratively to maximise the opportunities out there.”
Funding for social housing decarbonisation Last year, the Government formally launched the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), through which it has committed £3.8bn over the next 10 years. The first wave of the SHDF provided £50m to fund demonstrator projects to inform future retrofitting schemes. A further £62m was allocated in March this year on top of £500m from the Government’s Green Homes Grant.
