Green-fingered teams renovate gardens as they celebrate warmer homes for London residents
Community benefits from practical action as tenants and stakeholders mark completion of Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund project
Gardening enthusiasts rolled up their sleeves to breathe fresh life into a green space enjoyed by London housing tenants.
Volunteers from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero joined teams from Lewisham Council, United Living and other stakeholders for the social value two-day event at The Hermitage in leafy Blackheath.
They attended the Lewisham Hill site to celebrate the completion of a Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund project and also to add the finishing touches on the site by renovating the garden.
Photo credit: Salix Finance
Overall, the year-long project, aimed at making the flats warmer for residents as well as slashing energy bills, has meant installing a range of features including new windows, roof insulation, and solar panels.
Lewisham Council successfully received £2.65m in funding from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 2.1 which is run by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. The council match funded the grant with an additional £5.8m.
As delivery agent for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund our teams at Salix have worked closely with the stakeholders to ensure the work is completed.
Lewisham councillor Luke Warner (Blackheath ward) could not wait to get his hands dirty when he joined the day. Luke, who works as teacher, grew up nearby.
He said: “Here at The Hermitage there was a huge need to do work that is sustainable for the residents and for the community.
“We understand there has been disruption for residents but what people now have is a better place in which to live. There is nothing more important for people and their families.”
Lewisham councillor Luke Warner helps with renovating the garden on the site at The Hermitage in Blackheath.
Photo credit: Salix Finance
He was joined by Cllr Will Cooper, Lewisham’s Cabinet Member for Better Homes, Neighbourhood and Homelessness (Evelyn ward). He was also armed with garden gloves and trowel.
He said: “We have a strong vision for net zero at Lewisham and we would not be able to do projects like this if it were not for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.
“There have been multiple challenges, but the EPC rating will go up and energy bills will go down, and that is something we all want to hear.
“People want to be warm, and they want their bills to be lower and the work we have done here will achieve this, the homes will be warmer, safer and bills will be cheaper.
“Creating sustainable buildings and reaching net zero, is not just some concept, people will end up with better homes.
“The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund improves the quality of people’s lives.”
We have a strong vision for net zero at Lewisham and we would not be able to do projects like this if it were not for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.
The Hermitage is located to nearby Lewisham as well as Blackheath and the iconic Greenwich Park
Photo credit: Salix Finance
One of the key reasons for the work has been to improve the energy rating of the 28 flats at The Hermitage. Today, one remains EPC D, five have achieved EPC B, and the rest are rated at C.
EPCs rate a home from A which is very efficient, to G which is inefficient.
Around 75 people joined the renovation project at the flats which sit on the edge of popular Blackheath. They got to work weeding, clearing rubbish and planting a range of new trees and pretty native plants.
Net Zero Carbon Manager at Lewisham Council Tania Jennings organised the garden project and has been working on the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund project for the last five years, two of those at Lewisham.
She said: “People often look at these beautiful old buildings and think that nothing can be done to improve and modernise them, but we have shown that not only can we make heritage buildings more efficient, but we can also make them structurally sound, affordable to heat, and full of life for another century.
“The Hermitage will outlive us all, and that is the powerful legacy of this work.”
Energy efficient solar panels have been placed on The Hermitage rooftop as part of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund works
Photo credit: Salix Finance
In 2019 Lewisham became one of the first local authorities in London to declare a climate emergency. So far, the council has been able to tap into £2.56m of funding from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 2.
It has recently had success with Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund Wave 3 which will provide the council with £7.1m to help make up to 800 homes more energy efficient across the next three years.
Lewisham Council has matched the Social Housing Fund Wave 3 grant with £9.2m in additional funding.
A spokesman for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “We are very proud of the collective effort involved in this project, and this is what we have found again and again when working on the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF).
“It’s good to be here today clearing this area and celebrating this project, and most importantly we expect to see people’s bills go down.
“There is a real focus and commitment to the residents, to the environment, and to transforming lives.”
Volunteers planting at The Hermitage site
Photo credit: Salix Finance
Lewisham has a housing stock of roughly 19,000 homes and aims to bring 6-7% of these to an EPC C through delivery of the Social Housing Decarbonisation and Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund grant programmes.
The council has switched its electricity supply to 100% renewable energy, retrofitted council buildings and local schools, planted thousands of trees and secured millions of pounds in external funding to support the work.
Its Climate Energy Action Plan was agreed by Mayor and Cabinet in March 2020 and set out to be carbon neutral by 2030.
