Five of the UK’s leading housing associations have formed an energy efficiency partnership to improve the sustainability of their 300,000 homes.

The Greener Futures Partnership (GFP) has been launched by Abri, Anchor Hanover, Home Group, the Hyde Group and Sanctuary Group, with a shared ambition to lower emissions and reduce fuel poverty. [emaillocker id=”71749″]

Peter Denton, Chief Executive of the Hyde Group and Chair of the GFP during year one, said: “The retrofit of homes, along with a sustainable approach to building new ones, will be a massive task and, while this is one of the best ways of helping the UK to start transition to a low-carbon economy, this will be a significant long-term challenge that needs action now.

“The GFP was founded on the principle that, by working together to ‘green’ our homes, we can maximise the benefits of sustainable housing for our customers, their communities and society as a whole. Furthermore, we can benefit from the financial, technological and energy efficiency gains that collaboration brings.”

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GFP chair Peter Denton

The five HAs – which have a joint turnover of over £2.3bn – have signed a Collaboration Agreement for an initial 12 months, during which time they will consider future structures and vehicles to support medium to long-term aims around joint procurement and delivery.

One of the goals of the partnership is to create a single, credible approach to assessing the sustainability of their homes and ensuring they meet the wider ‘greener’ agenda, beyond EPC ratings. It also intends to build and share knowledge and expertise within the social housing sector and beyond, forging partnerships that will inform and deliver real change.

Peter Denton added: “The scale of the carbon zero challenge means that we must do more than just cooperate – we need to truly collaborate, if we are to tackle the issues effectively and at scale.

“The Greener Futures Partnership signals the beginning of our commitment to join forces and resources as a sector to support the UK’s shift towards a zero carbon future, to help the environment and improve the lives of millions of people.”

Achieving net zero carbon emissions is one of the biggest challenges, and opportunities, facing the built environment, and housing associations own and manage about 17% of the UK’s housing stock (five million homes).

The social housing sector is facing costs of between £13,000 to £25,000 to bring an energy-inefficient home up to an EPC rating of C, not including the investment required to develop new skills and technologies. [/emaillocker]