Over 100 council homes in the city will benefit from improvement works to increase their energy efficiency and reduce heating and energy costs for residents.
The works will see energy efficiency retrofits carried out on 103 homes in Radford.
Nottingham City Council and partners Nottingham City Homes are working with British Gas to potentially get over £530,000 of Energy Company Obligation (ECO) funding, which would go towards carrying out the work in Radford.
This funding will support the Energiesprong work currently planned to be delivered through the DREeM (Deep Retrofit Energy Model) project, which is also part funded by the European Regional Development Fund. The project turns hard-to-heat council houses into ultra-low energy homes.
The houses and bungalows in Radford will receive improvements that will not only make the homes warmer and reduce energy bills for tenants, but also improve the environmental performance of the homes, helping towards Nottingham’s ambition to become carbon neutral by 2028.
The Deep Retrofit Energy Model (DREeM) improvements include:
- Super insulated wall panels
- New windows, including new internal window surrounds
- Loft insulation
- Solar panels
- Solar battery for energy storage and distribution.
Nottingham was the first place in the UK to pilot the ground-breaking whole-house retrofit approach known as Energiesprong. This pioneering approach from the Netherlands, upgrades a home with innovative energy-saving and energy-generating measures. The end result is homes that are near net zero carbon. So far 59 number of homes in the city have benefitted from these retrofit measures.
Nick Murphy, Chief Executive at Nottingham City Homes, said: “Residents who have already benefitted from the Energiesprong project tell us the work has made a real difference to the warmth of their homes. The retrofits, which include super insulated wall panels, new windows, roofs and solar panels, helps residents to save money on their energy bills. This new funding means we can create even more warmer homes whilst working to tackle fuel poverty.”
Councillor Sally Longford, the City Council’s Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Energy, Environment and Waste Service, said: “This funding will go towards important retrofitting work on colder council homes in the city. The improvements will create homes that produce almost zero carbon emissions, reducing bills and increasing the warmth and well-being for residents. Homes, and especially older homes, account for a large proportion of carbon emissions so tackling this helps us towards our ambitious target of becoming carbon neutral by 2028.”