Yorkshire Housing invests over £800,000 to improve energy efficiency in North Yorkshire homes

The properties were prioritised for the upgrade work as they are older homes in a rural location that have poor insulation and inefficient heating systems like coal and oil. They have an energy performance rating of SAP Band D or E, which means they use more energy and have higher running costs than other homes.

The upgrades include the installation of air source heat pumps, solar panels and improvements to insulation. Yorkshire Housing has appointed E.ON as its delivery partner, and work is expected to start in November 2023.

Steve Ellard, Yorkshire Housing’s director of assets and sustainability, said: “We want to make sure all our homes achieve an energy performance rating of SAP Band C or above by 2030.

“There’s no sign of the cost of living crisis abating any time soon, so there’s a real sense of urgency around making our homes as energy efficient as possible to reduce the risk of our customers falling into fuel poverty.”

Yorkshire Housing has already worked to improve the energy efficiency of its homes over the last couple of years. A £530,000 solar panel project in Huddersfield started earlier this month, and a £1.3 million energy efficiency upgrade project in the village of Staxton, near Scarborough is now nearing completion.

These projects follow Yorkshire Housing’s first major energy efficiency upgrade project in 2022 in the Craven area of North Yorkshire. £250,000 was invested in replacing solid fuel heating systems with low carbon alternatives in 30 homes, cutting carbon emissions by around 30 tonnes a year.