Broadacres is over halfway through a £5.3 million programme which is seeing hundreds of its older properties across North Yorkshire being made more energy efficient.

The installation of renewable energy technology such as solar panels and air source heat pumps form part of the housing retrofit programme which, when it completes in spring 2025, will have dramatically improved the energy efficiency of 400 properties across North Yorkshire.

This includes homes in towns such as Easingwold, Bedale, Northallerton and Ripon, as well as smaller rural communities such as Great Broughton, Osmotherley and Helperby.

Work has already been completed on 252 properties, which includes:

  • Solar panels on 252 homes
  • Air source heat pumps in 22 homes
  • Loft insulation in 98 homes
  • Underfloor insulation in 10 homes
  • Smart air bricks in 10 homes.

Among those who recently had work completed on his home in Helperby, near Easingwold, is Ken Westerman.

The house, which was built in the 1960s, has had solar panels fitted and an air source heat pump installed, taking the property from an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of D to a B.

Mr Westerman says he is already noticing the benefits.

“I am building up a credit because the solar panels help to heat the water and contribute towards the running of the heat pump, so this is saving electricity,” he explained.

“And through the tariff I have with my electricity supplier, any electricity I don’t use will be fed back into the National Grid and I will get a rebate for this as well.”

Mr Westerman has also praised Broadacres and its contractor PH Jones for the process involved in retrofitting his home.

“From the first meeting in the village hall when they explained what they were going to do, through to the installation process itself, the communication was absolutely brilliant,” he says.

“The actual work took just two weeks, and the staff were very good at cleaning up at the end of each day and letting me know what they were doing and how, so I couldn’t be happier.”

The work Broadacres is undertaking forms part of a wider programme to improve the efficiency of its homes to ensure that all properties have an energy efficiency rating of C or above by 2028. This will contribute towards its target to achieve net zero carbon status by 2050.

The money to pay for the retrofit programme came from a Government fund, known as the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. Broadacres is currently awaiting details of the next round of funding which will enable it to make even more older homes energy efficient.

Helen Ball, Broadacres’ Senior Sustainability Manager, said: “We now only fit air source heat pumps in new build homes, but we have always been conscious that the majority of our stock are older properties, and we don’t want anyone to miss out on their home being as energy efficient as possible.

“The retrofit programme is therefore an important part of our sustainability and net zero strategy, and we are delighted to have made such good progress in improving the efficiency of older homes like Mr Westerman’s.”

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