On 23 September 2024 the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (formerly known as the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund) and the Warm Homes: Local Grant (formerly known as the Home Upgrade Grant) were announced. Both schemes are now open for applications from local authorities and social housing providers across England, looking for funding to carry out retrofit measures across their housing stock.

RISE supporting potential Warm Homes applicants at Housing 2024

Retrofit Information, Support and Expertise (RISE) is the full funded support service put in place by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero to help organisations to develop their retrofit programmes, and submit successful applications to the Warm Homes scheme.

Gareth Field is one of RISE’s senior sustainability consultants, and a specialist in the retrofitting of rural homes. Gareth joins us to explain how the Warm Homes schemes can help to make rural homes warmer and cheaper to heat, and how the RISE service is focused on meeting the often quite unique needs of rural housing providers and local authorities.

Gareth – could you give us a brief overview of the two new Warm Homes scheme?

The Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (WH:SHF) will upgrade thousands of social homes falling below the standard of EPC C - with measures including insulation, double glazing and heat pumps, cutting bills and tackling fuel poverty.

The Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH:LG), to be delivered by eligible Local Authorities, will fund energy performance upgrades and the installation of cleaner heating for low-income households living in the worst quality, privately owned homes in England.

We know that rural homes often have quite different, and sometimes more challenging features than urban housing – often older, harder to heat, more prone to damp issues, and often ‘off grid’ and reliant on fuel like LPG or oil. How can housing providers and local authorities with this kind of stock consider retrofit, without it becoming prohibitively complex or expensive?

It is true that rural homes can present different challenges to urban properties when it comes to retrofit, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done, and often when retrofit is delivered effectively in these homes, the impacts are even more greatly felt.

With the introduction of the new Warm Homes schemes we have seen some changes which will really help to see the retrofitting of more rural homes – for example, the WH:LG is now available to all fuel types, including LPG, oil or coal. WH: SHF has also increased the off gas grid price cap to support up to £30k of work on the homes. This will really help rural and off gas grid homes. 

RISE is well equipped to support rural housing providers and authorities and we have a range of services and resources specifically to address the challenges of retrofitting rural homes.

For example, for those who are considering how to retrofit heritage homes (either with, or without listed status), our RISE retrofit heritage expert has developed a range of in-depth toolkits and resources on this topic, and we have a back catalogue of recorded masterclasses that walk you through how to apply retrofit in a sensitive but effective way. We’re also across new technologies that can really help with the retrofit of historic buildings, and we’re happy to support applicants as they explore these options.

For those who are faced with ‘hard to decarbonise’ housing archetypes, we a run focused Masterclasses and advice drop ins on this – including timber frame properties and those in a conservation area. We can even put applicants in touch with others who have, or are planning to retrofit similar property archetypes, to share knowledge and experiences.

And we know that engaging residents across more rural areas can present challenges, so RISE’s programme of training and support in this area can also really help rural providers to overcome that potential barrier. 

Finding the right contractors to work with on retrofit programmes in more rural areas can also be a challenge – how can RISE help with this?

Availability of retrofit suppliers with the right skills and sufficient capacity can be a challenge in more rural areas. When suppliers are having to travel some distance to work on a scheme it can add to the cost, and the risks associated with a project, which is never ideal. That’s one of the reasons that RISE had launched its supply chain support service, so it can provide completely free and tailored training to more retrofit suppliers, and provide smaller, local companies with access to the skills and knowledge that they need to meet the demands of these retrofit projects.

The Warm Homes schemes also now place a real emphasis on social value being built into every programme – and this can see support for the local workforce to build skills and capacity.

What advice would you give to any rural local authority or social housing provider considering how to improve their homes, but unsure where to start?

The first step is to get in touch with the team at RISE. It costs absolutely nothing, and as well as access to a huge amount of expert led training and resources, the RISE one to one service will literally hand hold you through every part of your retrofit programme planning and Warm Homes application.

Thank you Gareth!

For a full briefing on both the Warm Homes schemes, you can watch the RISE recorded briefings here.

For more information on what RISE can do to support you, please visit riseretrofit.org.uk

WH:SHF remains open for funding requests until midday on 25th November 2024.