Our ‘vital’ work to increase energy efficiency in homes across England
A new venture for Salix working alongside the Government’s homes decarbonisation schemes, has been announced today.
Salix Finance has been appointed Delivery Agent for the next waves of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) and Home Upgrade Grant (HUG), managing the schemes on behalf of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
At a networking event in Manchester today, Retrofit Ready SHDF Wave 2 and HUG 2, Salix Chief Executive Annie Shepperd, OBE, spoke about the importance of insulating homes across the country.
She said: “Our aim is to increase the energy efficiency of the poorest insulated homes in our country and transform them into warm low carbon homes.
“Insulated homes need less energy to keep warm in winter and cool in summer and the people of this nation know we must play our part in reducing and hoping eventually eradicating our reliance on fossil fuels.”
The event, targeted at key industry bodies representing the domestic retrofit market providing an opportunity for grant recipients to make connections with one another and to meet the Salix team.
As established government Delivery Partner for the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme and the Low Carbon Skills Fund, Salix will use its high-level expertise to manage the homes schemes in England.
Salix, currently based in an office in London has taken to heart the Government wish to level up and is building a 40-strong specialist team of people to work on the housing projects from a new Manchester office, where teams from across the business will also work.
In March the government announced £1.4 billion through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and Home Upgrade Grant to go to local authorities, providers of social housing and charities to upgrade homes and off-grid households with energy efficiency measures.
The programmes will be rolled out from April 2023 to upgrade homes over the next two years.
The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and Home Upgrade Grant fund energy-saving measures range from loft insulation to new windows and doors, exterior wall insulation, cavity wall insulation, draft proofing measures, as well as heat pumps and solar panel installation.
The schemes fund improvements to vulnerable households and off-gas grid homes with an EPC rating of C or below and could save tenants between £220 and £400 a year on energy bills.
The programmes form part of the government’s commitment to reduce overall UK energy demand by 15% by 2030, as well as supporting the ambition for the UK to move towards greater energy independence.