Making homes warmer for less

Wave one of our project to improve insulation in our customers’ homes is complete.

Thanks to a grant from the BEIS Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), we’ve improved insulation in 60 customer homes across Ollerton, Rhodesia and Nottingham city.

The upgrades, known as ‘retrofitting’, keep homes warmer for longer, using less energy. We’ve upgraded everything from external wall to loft insulation, at no cost to customers, in homes with an energy efficiency rating of less than ‘EPC band C’.

This aligns with our Environmental Sustainability strategy.

Our Retrofit team visited customer Mel in Ollerton to see the end result. They were joined by representatives from our contractor Westville, Chris Pryke-Hendy (our Head of Sustainability) and Jen Wilson (our volunteer Customer Retrofit Champion).

Mel, who has lived in her NCHA home for a decade, said: “The new insulation has almost halved my energy bills. I live in an old pit house which usually costs a fortune to heat, but since the insulation works I hardly need to put the heating on now, even in winter.

“It looks lovely and it’s so much warmer, which is making a massive difference.”

What’s next

It’s now full steam ahead as we prepare to roll out more energy efficiency measures for a further 300 homes. We’ll cover everywhere from Doncaster, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire to Leicestershire and Northampton.

We’ve already sent letters to all eligible customers to begin arranging works at their homes. We’ll be speaking with those customers over the next few months to answer any questions.

Westville will be our main contractor for ‘wave two’, with support from Pelham Architects, with plans to start work this spring.

Sheila Evans, NCHA Customer Liaison Officer, said: “It’s such a pleasure to see our customers enjoying the heating benefits of their new insulation – the finishing touches look great!

“We’re finding that customers need to put their heating on a lot less, which is wonderful. Inside, it’s a better living environment, and externally the homes tend to look like new builds again.

“After a very successful ‘wave one’, we’ve now built up the momentum to develop our customer engagement and get local councils on board. This is instrumental to being able to refine the process and provide an even better experience.

“We want people to be warm in their homes, and this is a great way of helping this to happen.”