A revolutionary approach to whole house refurbishment that is radically improving the energy efficiency of over 150 homes in Nottingham has been declared the Local Authority Initiative of the Year at the prestigious Energy Awards.

The Energy awards, which took place in London last week, recognise excellence and celebrate the intelligent use of energy in the UK. The Local Authority Award was launched last year in recognition of the growing importance of local authorities to facilitate the UK’s move to sustainable energy. Nottingham City Council’s Energy Services have now won this award two years running.

Nottingham City Council is the first local authority in the country to adopt a ground-breaking approach known as Energiesprong. The Energiesprong approach, pioneered in the Netherlands, upgrades a home with new outside walls and windows, a solar roof, and a state of the art heating system, dramatically reducing household energy bills and making homes warmer and healthier for residents.

Nottingham City Council has been piloting this new approach on its Nottingham City Homes properties with funding received from the European Union. Over £6m has been brought into the city through the following funding streams Horizon 2020 (REMOURBAN project), European Regional Development Fund (DREeM) and Interreg NWE programme E=0.

Councillor Sally Longford, the City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Energy and Environment, said: “It’s a great achievement to have won this award and testament to the innovation and commitment that the Council and Nottingham City Homes have shown to make real progress in the reduction of carbon emissions from our housing stock.

“Other councils and housing providers are now beginning to follow our lead and the Energiesprong approach is gathering momentum across the country. Large housing providers have a really important part to play in not only reducing the emissions of our own stock but also kick starting a revolution in the UK’s construction sector to make ultra-low energy homes affordable to all.

“As well as stepping up to our environmental responsibilities, many of our residents live in fuel poverty so creating more energy efficient homes to reduce people’s energy bills is a high priority for us. We’re very excited that Nottingham is at the forefront of this revolutionary approach, which can help tackle both fuel poverty and climate change.”Ends

Energiesprong UK
Originating in the Netherlands, Energiesprong is a revolutionary, fully-integrated, market-driven, zero-carbon and funding approach to delivering attractive ‘whole-house’ refurbishments with guaranteed net-zero energy performance.
https://www.energiesprong.uk/

Horizon 2020 (REMOURBAN project)
REMOURBAN is a five year, European funded project which involves many partners across Europe working together to achieve a sustainable urban regeneration model leveraging the convergence of energy, mobility and ICT to transform European cities into Smart Cities

During 2016 and 2017, Nottingham City Council used over £3m of EU Smart City funding across a variety of interventions to help citizens of Sneinton to be warmer and healthier, to reduce their energy bills, and to reduce the carbon emissions of the city.
https://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/information-for-residents/community/investing-in-green-infrastructure/remourban/

European Regional Development Fund (DREeM)
Nottingham City Council has secured over £5 million through the European Regional Development Fund (2014 to 2020) to deliver a project called Deep Retrofit Energy Model (DREeM).

This project aims to improve the efficiency of homes and public buildings in Nottingham and be replicable across Europe.
https://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/information-for-residents/community/investing-in-green-infrastructure/deep-retrofit-energy-model/

Interreg NWE programme E=0.
Energiesprong UK (hosted by NEF) is leading on the effort to bring the Energiesprong concept to the UK. The E=0 project is supporting UK housing associations who are pioneering Energiesprong retrofits by working on demonstrators for the net zero energy renovations.

Two E=0 pilots are underway in the UK. In Maldon, Essex, fives homes are being retrofitted by solution provider ENGIE on behalf of housing association Moat Homes. In Nottingham, 17 homes are being retrofitted by solution provider Melius Homes on behalf of owner Nottingham City Homes. Both projects are due to complete around summer 2019.