More than 500 North East Derbyshire Homes are warmer and cheaper after work to improve their energy efficiency.
Rykneld Homes has worked closely with its principal contractor Sustainable Business Services (UK) Ltd (SBS) to deliver the scheme installing external wall insulation and other retrofit measures to homes in North East Derbyshire District Council’s social housing stock.
The outcome is a reduction in the carbon footprint of the homes by 966 tonnes a year – an amount which is the equivalent to driving 8.9 million miles in an average petrol car.
Rykneld Homes customer, Alison, lives with her family in the 500th home to have works completed. She said: “The work has made a huge difference to how the house looks and feels.
“The house is warmer, we’re using less energy and the fact that I’m one of so many customers that have benefitted is brilliant.”
She added: “When you’re renting you rely on your landlord to look after your home, Rykneld do such a great job. They treat my home as if it were their own.
“I’m really proud of it and looking forward to decorating it and getting the inside looking as good as the outside.”
The works are part of a wider Rykneld Homes project that will ultimately see 640 homes retrofitted with external wall insulation. The insulation will reduce the amount of heat escaping homes, leading to a reduction in energy use.
The project is part of a two-year programme to deliver EWI and other works to 640 council owned non-traditional homes, with the support of £8.2m from the Government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF).
Non-traditional housing makes up 40% of NEDDC’s stock and incorporates any type of building that is not built with brick or stone walls and with tile or slate roofs. The homes, which are considered ‘hard to treat’ properties have low energy efficiency ratings.
North East Derbyshire District Council and Rykneld capital investment has topped up money received from SHDF, which was set up to enhance the energy efficiency of socially rented homes.
Niall Clark, Director of Customer and Strategic Partnerships and Deputy MD at Rykneld Homes, said: “Improving the homes our customers live in is a priority for us.
“The feedback we have had from customers so far has been really positive, we are looking forward to making further progress on this and other schemes that will make our properties the best homes they can be.
“Further investment from the Council, together with opportunities from the upcoming Wave 3 Warm homes programme and further external funding opportunities, will hopefully allow this type of work to continue through to 2027 for other homes in the district.”
Gary Lawson, managing director at Sustainable Building Services, said: “This milestone installation is testament to the successful ongoing partnership between SBS and Rykneld Homes. The work to improve the energy efficiency, thermal comfort and cost of heating for homes in North East Derbyshire wouldn’t be possible without the hard work on both sides of this partnership.
“Our work is not yet done, with more homes currently receiving high quality retrofit decarbonisation measures that will make life easier in both the summer and winter months. The carbon emission savings speak for themselves from a sustainability perspective, but the feedback from residents so far has been very positive and we expect the awareness and appreciation of retrofit schemes like this to continue increasing at an important time during a cost-of-living crisis.”