Manchester City Council are seeking approval for the final funding of the city’s biggest sustainable home upgrades programme.
Members of Manchester City Council are due to submit a report to the full council, requesting for the final instalment of a landmark £60m energy efficiency and decent homes programme that will be completed within the next two years.
As part of Manchester’s target to become net-zero by 2038, more than 2,100 homes in the great northern city are set to receive energy efficient works – alongside wider home upgrades.
The local authority has already successfully bid for two major funding pots from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ, with one of the bids being part of a consortia bid by Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
Of the funds acquired, £49.7m will be invested into 1,603 council-owned properties to improve sustainability through a range of works, including better roof and wall insulation, solar panelling, new boilers or heating systems, and air and ground heat pumps.
This includes £11.6m from DESNZ’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and £38m contribution from the Council’s capital programme. Additionally, part of this funding will also be used to deliver a range of decent home investments in the same properties, including building safety and fire safety work, to limit disruption to the residents while work is taking place.
Currently, the grant funding is limited to properties rated EPC D or below with the expectation that the measures will improve most properties to EPC C rating – and to EPC B in some cases.
Nationally, there is little funding to invest in council-owned homes, which means local authorities must pay for retrofitting works through their Capital Programme and Housing Revenue Accounts – competing for investment alongside wider capital projects and the need to deliver decent homes improvements alongside retrofit projects.
In addition to helping sustainably retrofit council houses in a bid to reduce emissions and assist with people’s health, funding has also been granted to improve the energy efficiency of private properties in the city.
Recent figures display there are 79,000 owner occupied homes in Manchester and 93,000 rented by private landlords. A key issue in this sector remains cost and some owners may be either unwilling or unable to afford retrofit works, especially during the current financial climate.
£10m from DESNZ’s Home Upgrade Grant fund will be provided to help improve the EPC rating of 500 privately owned homes from D or below to C. The funding targets properties that don’t use gas as their main heating fuel and other criteria’s set by DESNZ.
Cllr Gavin White, Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and development, said: ‘Housing is a major source of carbon usage and therefore investing in energy efficiency measures is a key element of our journey to become a zero-carbon city by 2038.
‘This £60m represents the biggest investment in low carbon retrofit works in our history and is testament to our commitment to reducing our collective carbon emissions.
‘The challenge is significant but one we need to tackle head on. We have around 70,000 social rented homes in the city – 16,000 owned by the Council – and we have committed to retrofitting 60% of those that we own by 2032.
‘We also need residents to come on this journey with us. These works will require us to work directly with Council tenants and private owners – and although inevitably there will be some short-term disruption, the end product is warm, healthier, more efficient – and ultimately cheaper to run – homes for our residents.’
Image: Petar Tonchev