More than 2,400 council homes in Nottingham will be getting improvements worth £36m to help bring tenants’ energy bills down and improve the quality of their homes.
The investment has been welcomed by councillors as thousands of homes across the city are of a sub-standard quality and have poor energy efficiency ratings.
In total, 2,427 homes will benefit from the multi-million pound investment. Nottingham City Council says the money will be used to improve building fabric and insulation, decarbonise ageing heating systems, and install more renewable energy sources.
Cllr Jay Hayes (Lab), executive member for housing and planning, said: “The works will improve the overall quality of our housing stock, but also bring down the energy bills for our council tenants.”
Around half of the total investment will be coming from the Government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, while the council will be matching this amount using its own housing funds.
It comes as the Government set all landlords a target to make their properties more energy efficient by 2030.
The Government will require all properties to have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of C or above by the end of the decade.
The Labour-led council says it currently has almost 8,000 homes that have a rating below C.
Improvements will be made beginning this year, before finishing in September 2028.
Two previous waves of funding have led to the improvement of 721 council homes, but the third scheme will be the largest investment to date, totalling £36.4m.
Nicki Jenkins, corporate director for growth and city development, said: “We have to achieve an EPC rating C by 2030 across our stock, so this will mean we will be able to meet that target.”
During an Executive Board meeting on Tuesday (September 16) the investment was approved by senior city councillors.
Cllr Andrew Rule, who represents Clifton West for the Nottingham Independents and Independent opposition group, requested that council homes suffering from years of neglect be prioritised.
“I welcome the allocation of this money, but my main point I want to make is on behalf of residents in Eddlestone [Drive], that the area is prioritised for retrofitting,” Cllr Rule said.
“The current state has been well-documented in local media and cladding on some properties is non-existent, showing the underlying structure of the property. This money would be well-used to rectify that.”
