In late December 2021, Lee Rowley MP, representative of North East Derbyshire, visited a series of homes recently improved by SBS under the Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery (LAD) scheme.
Mr Rowley was accompanied on his tour by Niall Clark, Director of Property Services and Development (Rykneld Homes), Helen Brown Head of Development and Regeneration (Rykneld Homes) and Councillor Jeremy Kenyon – North East Derbyshire District Council Member with responsibility for Climate Change.
Together, they inspected a range of properties managed by Rykneld Homes, which have benefited from numerous energy efficiency measures and external improvements. The most notable has been the installation of an external wall insulation system, manufactured and designed by PermaRock Products Ltd.
The homes inspected on the day were BISF properties refurbished under the LAD 1B scheme, but these represent just a fraction of the total number that SBS has completed, or which are now in progress.
In 2021, SBS and the client completed work on 113 BISF Construction properties and two Unity Non-Traditional Construction properties, all under LAD 1A. They subsequently fitted external wall insulation to 39 Unity Non-Traditional Construction homes and a further 101 BISF Non-Traditional Construction homes, all funded via LAD 1B. All retrofit energy efficiency works were completed to the PAS2030:2017 standard.
Later, in November 2021, SBS started work on a new phase, which is ongoing, and which is being caried out to the newer PAS2030:2019 and PAS2035:2019 standards. Funded under LAD2, this includes the following property archetypes and numbers:
- 34 x Airey Non-Traditional Construction
- 86 x Reema Non-Traditional Construction
- 48 x Foamslag Non-Traditional Construction
- 7 x Unity Non-Traditional Construction
Other related works include structural repairs, gable verge extensions and the re-roofing of 52 properties.
“The homes that we’ve worked on via these various LAD funding schemes will have been some of the client’s least energy efficient properties,” said Gary Lawson, SBS Director. “Some of them would have been built in the 1940s, so they have clearly been in need of improvement. Rykneld Homes has made that work a priority and, as a PAS-accredited contractor, we’re proud to be playing a leading role in delivering the necessary improvements.
“The LAD funding has been vital for making these works achievable. We estimate that the solid wall insulation that we installed in the LAD 1A scheme alone will now be saving about 100 tonnes of CO2 every year, and that number is only going to get bigger as we treat more and more properties in the area.”
Lee Rowley MP said: “It was good to visit Unstone to find out more about the upgrade and improvement works that Rykneld Homes are undertaking in the village. Along with Cllr Alex Dale, Councillor for Unstone and also Leader of North East Derbyshire District Council, we had a great visit finding out more about the works being done to make the homes more energy efficient, to renew and replace parts of the buildings, and to improve insulation – all part of a wider programme across North East Derbyshire to improve hard-to-heat homes.”
Speaking on behalf of North East Derbyshire District Council, Cllr Alan Powell, Member with Responsibility for Housing, said: “We have worked very hard with Rykneld Homes to secure government Green Homes funding to make some of our hard-to-heat homes more energy efficient – helping tenants with their fuel bills and the environment by reducing carbon emissions.”
More details about SBS’s work with Rykneld Homes can be found in this case study.
