Hundreds of residents benefit from warmer homes and lower energy bills
South Lakes Housing upgrades 826 homes across Cumbria
An ambitious project to upgrade hundreds of homes has been hailed for reducing residents’ energy bills and improving the comfort in their homes.
South Lakes Housing manages around 3,774 homes across the region.
Through the project, it upgraded a total of 826 homes at benefit to residents.
Resident Rhoda, who has lived in her Kendal home for more than three decades, noted how much more comfortable her home has been since it received solar panels, cavity wall insulation and ventilation measures in 2024.
Rhoda said: “It was cold, the bills were higher, and I always had to put on extra layers, extra clothes and even my coat and I did keep having colds. “It’s nicer now. It’s a lot better.”
Watch our short video with Rhoda to hear more about her experience and the difference the upgrades are making to her health – and her wallet.
The upgrades at Rhoda’s home form part of a 993-property programme for a multi-member consortium led by Westmorland and Furness Council.
Delivered alongside Eden Housing Association, Lune valley Rural Housing Association, Progress Housing Group and Westfield Housing Association, the collective was awarded more than £5 million from the government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 2.1 to complete the work.
Funding for this scheme is delivered on behalf of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and assured by our teams at Salix.
Through the scheme, South Lakes Housing was awarded more than £3.5 million in funding for energy upgrades for its homes.
South Lakes Housing head of property services Paul Smith said: “Our residents are getting great value for money and they’re reducing their energy bills.
“The most important thing is that it’s saved her money on her electricity bills, which is great.”
Watch our short video with Paul to hear more about the organisation’s goals for this work and how collaboration through the consortium delivery model has supported project success.
South Lakes Housing is continuing to upgrade its homes so more residents can benefit from warmer homes and lower energy bills like Rhoda.
