Following a successful joint bid to the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund through the Greener Futures Partnership (GFP), Abri has secured funding to retrofit even more customer homes over the next two and a half years.
In total, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero have allocated £40.4m for the Partnership – the third highest allocation in this wave.
Abri is a founding member of the GFP, a consortium of five housing associations made up of Abri, Anchor, Home Group, Hyde and Sanctuary. Together they represent over 600,000 customers in 300,000 homes. The funding secured from the bid, led by Sanctuary, will enable the group to retrofit 5,600 homes with a total planned investment of over £90m.
Abri, one of the largest housing providers in the south of England, will use the funding to improve each homes’ energy performance rating to a ‘C’ rating or higher, in line with the Government’s target for all social housing to be EPC Band C by 2030.
Not only will the improvements make customers’ homes more comfortable to live in, but they’ll also help reduce energy bills at a time when customers are facing an increased cost of living. With a tailored solution for each home, they will benefit from measures such as new clean heat, double glazing, solar panels and external roof and wall insulation.
Rose Bean, Director of Assets and Sustainability at Abri, said: “We’re so pleased that the GFP have been successful in bidding for the latest round of the SHDF. Abri is committed to improving the quality of our customers’ homes and making them more energy efficient - and this funding will allow us to continue doing just that.
“In 2022/2023 we made great progress towards our goals, retrofitting 125 homes to EPC band C or above using Wave 1 funding. Now, drawing on the strength of the GFP, we’re in an even greater position to use our combined knowledge, expertise and purchasing power to improve the energy efficiency of even more homes across the partnership in Wave 2.”