Mears Group supports clients to secure over £5m Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund allocation 

Mears has collaborated with three clients to design tailored retrofit solutions and secured £5.18m of funding via the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), as part of a £15m overall investment in energy efficiency works to 471 homes with Livin Housing, Crawley Homes and Milton Keynes Council. 

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The SHDF is the first tranche of funding from central government via the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) over the next 10 years – aimed at improving the energy performance of social rented homes on the journey to achieving Net Zero by 2050 in England.  The purpose of the SHDF is to raise the energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of social homes to a minimum of EPC Band C by taking a ‘worst first, fabric first’ approach to result in the following outcomes:

• Reduce Fuel Poverty
• Reduce Carbon emissions
• Support the Green Economy through employment opportunities
• Improve Tenants comfort, health, and well-being through delivering warmer and more energy-efficient homes.

The funding applications were facilitated by Mears Carbon Reduction (CRT) Team in partnership with Livin Housing, Crawley Homes and Milton Keynes Council. The CRT team was created in 2021 to focus on developing support solutions for our existing clients to decarbonise their housing stock.  . The team took a ‘resident first’ approach centred on reducing fuel stress, improving residents’ quality of life, and improving the condition and energy performance of clients’ housing stock. 

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The team is overseen by Richard Hughes, Partnership Development Director and led by Steve Osborne, Head of Business Improvement. Specialist client solution design is provided by Mike McGowan, Sustainability Manager, and project support is provided by Rebecca Watson. 

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The successful funding award and client investment will deliver the following measures by March 2023:

• Milton Keynes Council – c£11.5m project (including c£3.4m funding) to deliver External Wall Insulation (EWI), loft insulation, replacement windows and doors and warm roofs to 304 homes
• Crawley Homes – c£1.65m project (including c£700k funding) to deliver External Wall Insulation (EWI) and loft insulation works to 59 homes
• Livin Housing – c£2.2m project (including £1.08m funding) to deliver EWI, loft insulation and replacement windows to 108 homes.

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Steve Osborne, Head of Business Improvement, said: 

“The SHDF funding success is the result of a genuine collaborative approach between Mears, our clients and partners. The submissions resonated as they put residents first by focussing on improving their quality of life through energy efficiency measures and stock improvement to mitigate the impact of rising energy costs – critical in the current climate”  

“Our data-led approach enables clients to be ‘funding and finance ready’ with projects ready to go in order to take advantage of funding to support the long-term strategic asset management needs of the housing stock.” 

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Mears will deliver the following outcomes by March 2023:

• 471 properties will receive energy efficiency measures and stock investment increasing to a minimum EPC band C
• Up to 41% reduction in carbon emissions and 61% reduction in space heating demand
• Mitigate tenants’ rising energy costs by up to 55%
• Generate up to 70 jobs in the local supply chain including six apprentices.

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Carbon Reduction Team contacts:

Richard.Hughes@mearsgroup.co.uk

Steve.Osborne@mearsgroup.co.uk

Michael.McGowan@mearsgroup.co.uk

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