Partners announced for delivery of Government housing decarbonisation schemes

Red brick housing block with balcony's

A new partnership has been announced to deliver the Government’s homes decarbonisation schemes.

Salix Finance has been appointed Delivery Agent for the next waves of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and Home Upgrade Grant, managing the schemes on behalf of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Salix has appointed PwC, which is working with Turner & Townsend and Arup to deliver the schemes as Delivery Partner. The Delivery Partner will provide expert support in delivery of the schemes.

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 collaborating closely with the new delivery consortium.

Salix Chief Executive Annie Shepperd, OBE, said: “Salix has for some time been at the forefront of decarbonising the public sector.

“Today we are pleased to announce that we begin work with our partners to take our work into social housing in England.

“Our aim is to increase the energy efficiency of the poorest insulated homes in our country and transform them into warm low carbon homes. This will be a long journey, there is much to do and we, with our partners, are determined to support the UK’s journey.

“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. 

“This is vital important work and today we start!” 

Salix, currently based in an office in London, has taken to heart the Government’s 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.

Lord Callanan, Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance said: “Energy efficiency upgrades make a huge difference that people will feel in their homes and see in their bills.  

“We announced £1.4bn for these schemes last month with over one hundred thousand private and social homes expected to benefit from measures such as loft insulation and new windows, potentially saving households between £220 and £400 a year on bills. 

“I look forward to working with Salix and their partners as we continue to roll out these vital improvements for households that will support our ever-growing green jobs sector.” 

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 funding was announced in March and started being 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 government says these schemes could also support around 20,000 jobs in the construction and home retrofit sectors.

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.