£44 million funding boost to cut emissions from buildings

A total of £44 million of government funding is set to help tens of thousands of UK homes, businesses and public buildings are one step closer to benefitting from greener, cleaner energy.

The investment addresses the urgent need to reduce the carbon footprint of heating homes and workspaces which makes up almost a third of all UK carbon emissions.

£30 million of the £44 million will fund three innovative heat network projects providing low carbon energy in south-east London, Manchester and Cambridgeshire, whilst helping to bring down energy bills. Heat networks are a proven, cost-effective way of providing reliable low carbon heat at a fair price to consumers.

Of that, more than £12 million of funding to develop one of the UK’s largest heat networks in the London Borough of Bexley that will supply low carbon heat to 21,000 homes. £14.7 million to develop a network across a zone of five square kilometres in Manchester’s city centre that will distribute low carbon electricity, heat and cooling to a range of buildings, including the local hospital, a mix of social and private housing, student accommodation blocks and commercial organisations such as the Heineken brewery. Lastly, £3.3 million will fund a first-of-its-kind community-led project in the Cambridgeshire village of Swaffham Prior, which will allow 300 properties to collectively transition from oil to low-carbon heating using a network of hybrid ground and air source heat pumps.

Additionally, a further £14.6 million announced today will benefit 11 projects in England, Scotland and Wales. The funding will be invested in exploring ways the UK can develop and use efficient, low-carbon technologies for heating and cooling buildings.

Minister for Climate Change Lord Callanan said: “Almost a third of all UK carbon emissions come from heating our homes and addressing this is a vital part of eradicating our contribution to climate change by 2050.

“Today’s funding package will accelerate the development of low-carbon technologies that will both reduce emissions, and ensure people’s homes are warmer, greener and cheaper to run. Securing a lasting move away from fossil fuels to heat our homes will allow thousands of households and businesses to feel the benefits of projects that are breaking new ground and making our villages, towns and cities cleaner places to live and work.”

The funding also helps deliver on commitments made in the Prime Minister’s 10 point plan to make the UK’s homes, schools and hospitals greener, warmer and more energy efficient, while creating 50,000 jobs by 2030, and the government’s ambitious energy white paper that commits to transforming the UK’s energy system and changing the way homes are heated.