Government grant enables Energy Performance upgrades

Gloucester City Homes (GCH), in partnership with Stroud District Council and two other local housing providers have been awarded a Government grant of £3.4million to improve the energy efficiency of over 300 socially rented homes. This includes roughly £450,000 to benefit GCH properties primarily in Matson where there are many non-traditionally constructed homes. 

Robert Panou, Head of Assets and Development at GCH commented “This is great news for many residents as the money will allow us to improve the energy efficiency of over 40 homes through works including external wall insulation, cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and efficient heating systems between April 2022 and March 2023. Affected residents will be contacted shortly for the improvement works to be scheduled.” 

Wave 1 of the funding aims to upgrade a significant amount of social housing stock currently below Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C up to that standard, delivering warm, energy-efficient homes, reducing carbon emissions and fuel bills, tackling fuel poverty, and supporting green jobs. 

The funding is provided through the Governments Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) which is administered by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Around 20,000 social homes across England will be made warmer and benefit from cheaper energy bills thanks to £179m of Government funding that has been announced. 

SHDF is £3.6bn Government commitment over a 10-year period to improve energy performance of socially rented homes.