Liverpool city region’s metro mayor has helped Plus Dane Housing crack on with its ambition to deliver a £10m net zero retrofit programme.
The housing association received £4.5m, which was secured by Mayor Steve Rotheram as part of the second wave of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund allocated to the city region.
Plus Dane is further co-funding the programme, with more than £5m towards it efforts to meet net zero targets.
Over the next two years, the partnership between Rotheram, the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, and Plus Dane will invest nearly £10m in the retrofit programme.
Barry Callow, director of repairs at Plus Dane, said the housing association is “grateful” for the combined authority’s help, which is helping it “do more with our money”.
“Funding from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund is really making a difference to what we can achieve when looking to retrofit our homes,” he added.
“Making our homes more energy efficient is a positive thing, not just as part of our obligation to meet net zero targets in the sector, but also for our customers who should see that they don’t need to use as much energy to keep their homes warm.”
Plus Dane says its assets team has started to allocate the funding to projects across Merseyside, identifying its energy inefficient properties and investigating a range of solutions.
Previous retrofit projects have included extensive cavity, external wall and roof insulation, and pilot scheme installation of a ground source heat pump at a development in Wirral.
Work is likely to begin in the Autumn, the organisation says.
Plus Dane previously received £1m from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund’s first wave, again allocated through the city region combined authority.
Main image: A Plus Dane block at Norwood and Gordon Court in Greasby, retrofitted earlier this year. Courtesy oof Plus Dane Housing
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