150 ultra-low energy homes to be developed in Nottingham

The next phase of a pioneering scheme to turn hard-to-heat council houses in Nottingham into ultra-low energy homes has begun.

Nottingham is the first place in the UK to pilot the ground-breaking whole-house renovation approach known as Energiesprong, with ten homes successfully completed and a further 17 now underway. As part of the Nottingham City Council Engergiesprong initiative, more houses are receiving improvements tackling some of the older housing stock that is hard to heat and lifting residents out of fuel poverty. As well as being warmer, the environmental performance of the homes will be greatly improved reducing carbon emissions and improving air quality.

The council has said that the project will be rolled out to 138 properties throughout the city, with further phases also being planned. The aim is to not only make the houses warmer and reduce energy bills for tenants, but also improve the environmental performance of the homes, helping towards Nottingham’s ambition to become carbon neutral by 2028.

The Energiesprong approach upgrades a home with innovative energy-saving and energy-generating measures, including new highly insulated outside walls and windows, a solar roof, and a state of the art heating system. The end result is homes that are almost net zero carbon.

Sally Longford, the council’s deputy leader and Portfolio Holder for Energy and Environment, said: “The Energiesprong pilot in Nottingham is a far-sighted, exciting and highly effective way of tackling old and cold council housing. It’s made a huge difference for tenants so I’m delighted we are rolling it out to even more properties where we can also reduce emissions and bills while increasing warmth and well-being for residents. Homes, and especially older homes, account for a large proportion of carbon emissions so tackling this helps us towards our ambitious target of becoming carbon neutral by 2028.”