Yesterday, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has published draft guidance for the long-awaited third wave of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF). Around £1.2bn is available under Wave 3, which includes funding for Devolution trailblazers. There are two routes to access funding under Wave 3: the Challenge Fund and Strategic Partnerships.
This latest release is a move we wholeheartedly welcome and have been calling on the government for via the National Home Decarbonisation Group for several months.
Our managing director Gary Lawson said: “This is fantastic news and presents a great opportunity for the retrofit decarbonisation sector to upgrade the energy efficiency of thousands of properties, which will reduce household energy usage while simultaneously providing health and wellbeing benefits for residents.
“The funding builds on sustained momentum that has been growing in recent years, and will complement other funding streams that help decarbonisation reach into the private sector too. It all helps to build both confidence and investment in the supply chain, but most importantly it helps the most vulnerable people in our society.
“Work delivered under SHDF does so much more than improve energy efficiency. It works to tackle the four main crises people face in the UK – health, cost of living, energy security and climate change – making sure we leave residents with healthier, cheaper to heat, warmer homes.
“It’s also easy to think about energy efficiency and focus on fixing cold and damp, but taking a fabric first approach allows us to make homes more temperate year-round. With summer on the horizon and weather starting to heat up, the cost of energy still remains a concern for many to keep their homes cool.
“Nothing gives us more pride than seeing residents benefitting from the decarbonisation work we do. With all work – under the various SHDF waves or otherwise – we will continue to keep up our wider social value commitments too. We understand the dramatic difference our work can make to individual households, but it remains important to us to make meaningful differences to whole communities, and our hard-working resident liaison officers will remain on the front line of making that happen alongside decarbonisation works.”
As one of the UK’s largest decarbonisation solutions providers, we have extensive experience in managing the large-scale projects that make a huge difference to communities around the country. We are currently directly delivering in excess of £100m of schemes under SHDF Waves 2.1 and 2.2, which followed on from improving thousands of homes under the SDHF Demonstrator and Wave 1 phases.
The clarification period is now open for the draft guidance, closing on 3 June 2024. After this, the application window will open, with closing dates indicated to be staggered so that any unsuccessful bids for Strategic Partnerships can still apply for the Challenger Fund.
See more about the work we have delivered under previous waves of SHDF here, and if you would like to talk to us about your ‘Strategic Partnership’ or ‘Challenger Fund’ bids, please get in touch via SHDF@sustainablebuildinguk.com.
