Housing provider secures £30m to support green improvement plan

Wakefield-based social housing provider, WDH, has agreed to a £30m funding deal with NatWest to support a series of green improvement projects across its property portfolio.

The funding includes a new to market Housing Green Retrofit Loan (HGRL) and forms part of a £300m total funding package to support WDH’s strategic growth goals.

Some of these priorities include a significant new-build development programme which includes affordable homes alongside sustainable capital investment into the provider’s existing properties.

The HGRL transaction forms part of a pilot programme in which NatWest has provided £110m of green loan funding into the affordable housing sector.

Having now completed the three-part pilot phase, NatWest is exploring opportunities to establish how these pilots can be scaled up more widely across the sector and support even more housing providers with their retrofitting activities and their wider green ambitions.

NatWest has outlined plans to provide £5bn in funding to support the social housing association sector by the end of 2026.

WDH owns and manages more than 32,000 properties in Wakefield, across Yorkshire, the Humber and North Lincolnshire. The green improvements include installation of heat pumps and solar panelling and retrofit works.

David Horne, relationship director real estate finance at NatWest, said: “We recognise that we have an important role to play in supporting social housing providers like WDH with the specialist funding they need to deliver on their green priorities while creating new affordable housing.

“It’s clear WDH are committed to improving their housing stock by making properties sustainable in the long-term while meeting the housing needs of their tenants and we are happy to play our part in helping them realise their ambitions.”

Neil Warren, executive director of resources at WDH, added: “Supporting our customers to live in safe, warm homes is our number one priority.

“This funding is going to help us to do that for even more people.

“Our customers face increasing financial pressures so anything we can do to support them to reduce their bills through the use of energy efficient solutions, while working toward our carbon reduction targets and maintaining high quality assets is fantastic.”

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close