£152m investment will make thousands of homes warmer and greener

Thousands of homes are to be made warmer and more energy efficient as part of a £152m investment.

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has secured £80m of funding to carry out the upgrades, while Liverpool-based housing group Riverside was awarded £36m of government grant funding and will match fund this amount, doubling the total investment to around £72m to upgrade more than 3,000 of its homes.

LCR Combined Authority has received £31.8m of its funding from the Warm Homes: Local Grant fund which will be distributed to low-income homeowners and private renters.

A further £48m has been secured through the Warm Homes Social Housing Fund which will be distributed among 24 housing associations operating in the city region and the wider North West. The award was the fourth highest in England and work is expected to start in the summer.

The investment – which will enable energy-efficiency improvements to around 10,000 homes – is part of a five-year carbon action plan to make the city region net zero by 2035. It comes on top of £105m already secured by the combined authority to retrofit 10,000 homes with energy-efficiency upgrades including wall and loft insulation, new roofs, solar panels, heat pumps and ventilation.  

Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram, said: “Too many families are still forced to choose between heating and eating – and that’s simply not right.

“Here in the Liverpool City Region, we’ve already invested over £100m to improve the energy efficiency of more than 10,000 homes – cutting bills, reducing carbon emissions, and tackling fuel poverty. This latest funding builds on that progress, helping even more people stay warm for less.”

Households with an energy inefficient home (Energy Performance Certificate Band D or below) and living in certain postcodes will be automatically eligible for the local grant scheme. 

Grants can also be accessed by households with an annual income of less than £36,000, who own their own home or for certain privately rented properties. 

Cllr Graham Morgan, cabinet member for housing and regeneration, said: “More than half of our region’s 720,000 homes are rated below the EPC band C standard, which makes them less efficient and more expensive to heat.

“We’ve secured this latest funding thanks to our track record of working with government and partners to deliver large scale retrofit projects. This significant investment means that thousands of local people will pay less to heat their homes in future.”

Riverside was awarded £36m of government grant funding and will match fund this amount, doubling the total investment to around £72m.

This will scale up Riverside’s retrofit activities and help contribute towards the goal of net zero.

It will mean warmer and more energy-efficient homes for customers and will also create new skilled jobs in a growth area.

The goal is to improve the energy efficiency of homes to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Band C through measures such as cavity wall insulation, external wall insulation, double glazing and new doors.

Riverside has already delivered energy efficiency improvements to more than 1,000 homes through a £26m project in Carlisle, Halton, Liverpool and London under Wave 2.1 and this new funding will have a huge impact on many more customers.

The housing provider has built in-house expertise and dedicated teams who will deliver this project and will use a data-led approach to target the houses most in need.

Riverside has been awarded Strategic Partner status by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero and received one of the largest grants of any housing association.

Its executive director of assets, Ian Gregg, said: “This is a significant investment in our properties which is hugely positive for our most in need customers and will undoubtedly improve their lives.

“We have already seen the transformation energy efficiency measures have made to residents in 1,000 of our homes under the last wave of funding.

“Riverside is committed to making sure all our homes are warm, comfortable and sustainable and to helping eliminate fuel poverty.”

He added: “We are excited to be able to scale up our work on this and deliver real benefits to our residents.”

The works will start in April 2025 and projects are anticipated to take three years to complete.