Leeds City Council’s seven-figure housing scheme ‘blazes a trail’ for energy efficiency

A group of social housing residents have been getting a taste for an energy efficient future with a tour of homes at the Holtdale estate in north-west Leeds.

Nearly 200 homes on the estate have benefited from a Leeds City Council-led £9.8m eco-friendly retrofit project, with new features such as air source heat pumps and solar panels cutting fuel bills by up to 70 per cent and making the properties warmer, healthier and more comfortable places to live.

And, earlier this week, social housing customers from other parts of Leeds and West Yorkshire got the chance to see for themselves the difference the upgrades have made.

They toured the estate and spoke to residents as part of an event organised by the council alongside the West Yorkshire Housing Partnership and energy and regeneration expert Equans, the delivery partner for the retrofit scheme.

The visitors all live in properties owned or managed by West Yorkshire Housing Partnership members and it is hoped that, following the fact-finding mission and conversations, they will now go back and spread the word in their own communities about the ways in which retrofitted energy efficiency features can transform people’s homes and lives.

A total of 190 low-rise flats on the estate, in the Holt Park area of the city, have been revamped thanks to funding from the council (£5.62m) and the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (£4.18m). The council owns 150 of the properties where the work was done.

Improvements such as new ventilation systems and insulation have led to reduced condensation and better air circulation. Some of the flats, which date back to the 1970s and were previously fuel-poor, now generate more energy than they use, with many having the UK’s top energy efficiency rating.

The Holtdale scheme is part of a wider £100m programme of council-led work across Leeds, with large numbers of buildings having already received or due to receive energy-saving upgrades to reduce the city’s carbon footprint and tackle fuel poverty.

Nick Atkin, vice chair of the West Yorkshire Housing Partnership, commented: “As a partnership we have big ambitions which is reflected in the £3bn investment our members are making in improving the energy efficiency of our homes over the next 15 years.

“This will also boost the green economy of West Yorkshire as the scale of the work required has the potential to create thousands of new, highly skilled jobs in manufacturing and in the installation of energy efficiency measures.”

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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