Nottingham City Council’s Greener HousiNG scheme has been Highly Commended at a national awards ceremony . Through Greener HousiNG, thousands of homes have been retrofitted with energy efficiency improvements such as insulation, solar panels and air source heat pumps.
In recognition of this work, the City Council was Highly Commended in the Innovation in Delivering Sustainability and Social Value category at The MJ Awards on 23rd June . These awards celebrate the work of local authorities that are making a difference to the lives of residents across the UK.
The Greener HousiNG team has been working to retrofit both privately owned and social homes, supporting the city’s ambitious target to be carbon neutral by 2028 and the City Council’s strategy to reduce instances of fuel poverty.
According to Government data, domestic buildings are the largest contributor to Nottingham’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. More than 350,000 tonnes of CO2 are produced by homes in the city per year.
Highlights of the Greener HousiNG scheme include:
- Installing retrofit measures on 1,036 homes between 2019 and 2022
- Contributing to reducing carbon emissions from domestic properties by 7% between 2017 and 2020
- Having a pipeline of a further 829 homes to be improved in 2023
- Improving the number of A-C rated Energy Performance Certificates in homes in the city from 40% to 45% in one year.
In addition to improving the energy efficiency of homes, the Deep Retrofit Energy Model which has been used to complete whole house retrofit work on domestic properties has also been explored on public buildings. The scheme was part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Dunkirk Primary School was chosen for inclusion in the scheme with the aim to achieve a 57,211kWh reduction in primary energy consumption for their campus.
The first-of-its-kind project saw insulation, solar PV, smart controls, LED lighting, and an air source heat pump installed at the nursery building of the school. This led to a six-tonne reduction in annual carbon emissions and minimised the utility bills for the school while also making the building more comfortable for the nursery children.
Councillor David Mellen, Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Carbon Neutral Nottingham, said: “I am delighted that Nottingham City Council has been recognised at The MJ Awards for our Greener HousiNG scheme. This vital scheme is improving homes in the city, making them more comfortable for residents while also reducing energy bills and carbon emissions.
“The challenge we have in Nottingham is that many of the homes were built before 1980 and have solid walls which makes them difficult to keep warm in the winter and cool in the summer. We have found innovative ways to tackle this issue, for example by trialling a variety of approaches to whole-house retrofit measures which have explored the use of a range of new technologies to bring homes towards net-zero standards.”
A partnership project between Nottingham City Council and the Nottinghamshire borough councils was also Highly Commended in the Innovation in Partnerships category. The Green Rewards programme incentivises residents from across the county to take action to reduce their carbon emissions by offering monthly prizes for those who collect the most points. As of May 2023, more than 155,000 actions had been recorded in Green Rewards by over 6,600 members. Find out more information about Green Rewards and sign up to start collecting your green points.