Agenda item

This report provides a progress on delivering retrofit works following the success of attracting grant funding to support cross tenure improvement works and asks the Executive Member to decide the basis of the bid under Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 2 and to decide whether to undertake a programme of rapid energy improvement works utilising existing budgets.

Resolved:

         i)         That the progress on delivering retrofit works following the success of attracting grant funding to support cross tenure improvement works, be noted.

        ii)         That the allocation of £1.015m from the existing Housing Revenue Account (HRA) retrofit budget to match fund government grant under the Social Housing Decarbonisation Wave 2 Fund, be approved. That the proposed details of the submission of a grant bid of around £1m, therefore enabling a £2m retrofit project, be noted.

       iii)        That the full expenditure allocation for the £2m HRA Retrofit Fund approved by Executive in 2019/20, and the associated improvement of 190 low performing council homes to at least EPC C standard once this funding programme was complete, be noted.

      iv)        That the allocation of £60k from the existing retrofit budget to deliver around 250 ‘quick win’ retrofit works this winter to support some of our most vulnerable residents this winter, be approved.

Reason: To deliver the council’s ambitions for minimising tenants’ energy bills and supporting health and wellbeing, building the local green economy and retrofit supply chains, and reducing carbon emissions in the city.

The Executive Member considered a report that provided an update on the progress on delivering retrofit works following the success of attracting grant funding to support cross tenure improvement works.

The Head of Housing Delivery and Asset Management highlighted  the retrofit work completed to date and the works planned under Local Authority Delivery Phase 3 (LAD 3), the Home Upgrade Grant 1 (HUG1) and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 1 (SHDF W1) programmes.

He also stated that:

·        A new round of SHDF Wave 2 funding presented the opportunity to accelerate the council’s ambitions to deliver significant retrofit works to council housing stock. If successful, the £1m grant would be match funded by the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), therefore delivering over £2m of retrofit work to council houses over a two-year period starting in April 2023.

·        £60,000 could be allocated from the existing HRA retrofit budget to deliver ‘quick win’ improvements to around 250 tenants this winter. These works would not require a high level of specialist knowledge and much of the work would be rolled out from a single visit by a handyperson. 

·        The Retrofit Action Plan was under consultation and would be considered by Executive later this year.

The Executive Member noted the full spend profiles for the £2m Retrofit budget, which was approved by Executive in December 2020 and that should the application be unsuccessful, a further business case would be developed to support the allocation of these funds to retrofit works.

In answer to questions raised, officers confirmed that the handyperson vacancy was being advertised and the Executive Member commended the continuing progress being made to deliver and implement retrofit energy efficiency measures, particularly in council homes.

The Executive Member supported the ambition to scale up the retrofit programme to meet the council’s climate change targets, improve the thermal comfort of people’s homes and to support some of the council’s most vulnerable tenants in the short term through a series of ‘quick win’ measures.

Resolved:

         i)         That the progress on delivering retrofit works following the success of attracting grant funding to support cross tenure improvement works, be noted.

        ii)         That the allocation of £1.015m from the existing Housing Revenue Account (HRA) retrofit budget to match fund government grant under the Social Housing Decarbonisation Wave 2 Fund, be approved. That the proposed details of the submission of a grant bid of around £1m, therefore enabling a £2m retrofit project, be noted.

       iii)        That the full expenditure allocation for the £2m HRA Retrofit Fund approved by Executive in 2019/20, and the associated improvement of 190 low performing council homes to at least EPC C standard once this funding programme was complete, be noted.

      iv)        That the allocation of £60k from the existing retrofit budget to deliver around 250 ‘quick win’ retrofit works this winter to support some of our most vulnerable residents this winter, be approved.

Reason: To deliver the council’s ambitions for minimising tenants’ energy bills and supporting health and wellbeing, building the local green economy, and retrofit supply chains, and reducing carbon emissions in the city.