Our Hertfordshire-based housing consortium has made a successful application to the Government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF).
The successful bid will enable members of the partnership - which includes B3Living along with neighbouring housing associations, settle and Watford Community Housing, and Dacorum Borough Council - to make energy-efficiency improvements worth more than £40million to our collective housing stock.
Over 1,500 social housing properties will benefit from improvements through the funding.
The funding has been secured through SHDF Wave 2.1, which follows the SHDF Demonstrator and Wave 1 competition and will see delivery until September 2025.
We originally joined forces with settle and Watford Community Housing through the Greener Herts partnership in 2021, which was formed to enable all three sustainability-focused housing associations to achieve more tangible results towards a shared ambition to make our homes both energy-efficient and cost-effective for customers.
The group has a joint ambition to achieve a completely net-zero carbon footprint by 2050.
Having joined forces with Dacorum Borough Council last year, an active partner of the Hertfordshire Climate Change and Sustainability Partnership, our bid submitted to Wave 2.1 of the decarbonisation fund will see homes across all four organisations receive energy-efficiency improvement works including loft insulation, external wall insulation, draught proofing, installation of PV panels and low-energy lighting.
Wave 2.1 of the SHDF has awarded £778m of Government funding to support the installation of energy performance measures in social homes in England.
The funding now secured by the consortium reflects a combined pledge of £25million from B3Living, Dacorum Borough Council, settle and Watford Community Housing, with an additional £14million provided by the SHDF.
Steve Woodcock, our Chief Executive, said:
“Securing this funding is excellent news, not just for the 260 B3Living families who will benefit, but also for thousands of residents across Hertfordshire.
"This is a significant level of investment for us and couldn’t come at a more important moment when we urgently need to lower our customers’ cost of living and take bigger steps to protect our environment.
“It is also a testament to what partnership working at a local level and taking an innovative approach can achieve. Working collaboratively with the Greener Herts partnership allows community-based landlords, like B3Living, to achieve much more.
“We see it as a great advert for the housing sector that four outward-looking providers have come together to make a real difference across the county.”
Lord Callanan, Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, said:
“This investment will help thousands of households to heat their homes for less, keep them warm for longer and could save hundreds on their annual energy bill.
“The green energy sector is growing, and this funding will support green jobs and provide the training needed to deliver these vital upgrades to homes.”
We will be in touch with all households who are set to receive home improvements under the scheme over the coming months.
But if you would like more information about the SHDF works, please contact us.
For more information about Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 2 please visit the DESNZ website.
(Apply for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund: Wave 2.1 (closed to applications) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
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