This substantial grant, coupled with a further £1.4m investment of our own funding, will enable up to £2.7m worth of energy efficiency improvements to be made to over 140 Cottsway homes over the next 2 years.

Depending on the requirement of each individual property, this work could include a variety of energy saving measures, such as:

• Installing cavity wall insulation
• Installing external wall insulation
• Installing or improving loft insulation
• Installing solar panels
• Replacing electric and oil heating with air source heating.

We were delighted to hear that we are among successful grant recipients announced yesterday (22 March) by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, which manages the SHDF Wave 2.1.

Richard Reynolds, our Executive of Cottsway, said “One of our key objectives is to ensure we provide safe, good quality and affordable homes for our customers and we want to reduce the carbon footprint moving forward, particularly of our older homes.

“By 2030, we aim to achieve an EPC rating of at least a C for all our properties as part of our net zero strategy. It is costly to make energy efficiency improvements and we’re extremely grateful that we’ve been chosen to receive this Government grant – it means we can push ahead with this project.

“We have identified 142 older homes in need of improvement that will benefit from this funding pot. Installing energy saving measures at these properties will not only help us reduce our carbon footprint, but will also help reduce these household’s energy bills and tackle fuel poverty.”

Lord Callanan, Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, said: “This investment will help thousands of households to heat their homes for less, keep them warm for longer and could save hundreds on their annual energy bill.

“The green energy sector is growing, and this funding will support green jobs and provide the training needed to deliver these vital upgrades to homes.”

Cottsway currently owns over 5,200 properties with more than 11,500 customers and we are West Oxfordshire’s largest housing provider. We also have homes in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Worcestershire. We are investing £85m between 2020 and 2030 in maintaining and improving our homes, with a focus on safety, meeting Government standards and reducing carbon emissions.

Around 76% of our homes have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of C or higher, with the remaining 24% of homes having an EPC rating of D or below. Nationally, the average rating for a home is D.

Cottsway worked with a selected partner to identify homes most in need of improvement for this SHDF-funded project, using analysis of housing surveys and data modelling.

The work that will be carried over the next two years will bring 142 Cottsway homes up to an EPC rating of at least a C – achieving improvements from existing ratings of F, E and D.