Hundreds of existing Broadacres homes are to benefit from a £3.71 million energy efficiency upgrade programme after funding was secured from the Government.

A total of 640 homes will have retrofit work undertaken over the next three years. This will include measures such as loft insulation and the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels and air source heat pumps, moving away from reliance on fossil fuels to power and heat these homes.

The Association has been awarded £1,857,000, which we will match fund, after a successful bid to wave 3 of the Warms Homes: Social Housing Fund (through the Tees Valley Combined Authority consortium). The consortium secured £43.9 million in total as part of £1.2 billion given to housing providers nationally.

The grant funding will enable Broadacres to retrofit 384 homes which will reduce carbon emissions and fuel bills, and help tackle fuel poverty by delivering the following:

• Solar PV systems (all 384 homes)
• Air source heat pumps (60 homes)
• Loft insulation (167 homes)
• 151 smart air brick systems (151 homes)

In addition, Broadacres will also be utilising its own internal budget to retrofit a further 256 homes (solar – 256, loft insulation – 185 and smart air bricks – 60), ensuring that 640 homes will be improved in total over the next three years.

Helen Ball, Broadacres’ Head of Sustainability, said: “We are delighted to have attracted this funding through the consortium which will enable us to carry out work on another 384 homes to make them more energy efficient.

“When you combine this with 256 homes we are funding ourselves, and with the work already undertaken on hundreds more properties over the last few years, it demonstrates the great strides we are making to decarbonise our housing stock.”

In the last wave of funding, Broadacres secured over £5 million which it has subsequently used to fit solar panels to 400 homes add underfloor insulation to 200 homes, loft insulation to 140 homes and air source heat pumps to 70 homes.

This complements the work we have been doing on other homes to make them more energy efficient, including installing air source heat pumps at over 700 homes.

Helen added: “This work forms part of our Sustainability Strategy and the ultimate drive to become a net zero carbon organisation by 2050.

“We have received great feedback from the customers who have had work done and their experience helps to shape future work so we can continuously seek further improvement.”