Our commitment to being an environmentally responsible landlord has been underlined after we were shortlisted in the Sustainability category for the Exeter Property Awards.
Our Cby28 programme aims to bring 9,000 of our worst performing properties up to Energy Performance Certificate C by 2028 – two years ahead of the government target.
Taking a fabric first approach, will invest approximately £38m into existing rental homes, underlining our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint, making our properties more affordable to live in and improving the energy performance of our homes.
Having invested in ensuring the energy performance of our new homes are above current building regulations, we remain committed to low carbon electrification of heating and hot water so are futureproofing construction, enabling heat pumps to be retrofitted when appropriate.
We are a partner of the West of England Combined Authority New Zero Hub in the delivery of their clean growth priorities and our support our local authority partners in delivering their Climate Action Plans.
Whenever possible, we are influencing specifications and design to ensure the new homes we build are sustainable.
We are working smarter, from clean energy in our offices to incentivising the purchase of electric vehicles and utilising our construction supply chain.
We have developed three core foundations: Sustainable Homes, Shaping Futures and Working Smarter. These sit across the 6 pillars of our Environmental Strategy and have influenced our priorities.
The strategy sets several targets and deadlines to support our ambitions not least that we will build new homes that are resilient to climate change.
LiveWest is early adopters of the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing covering 48 criteria across ESG considerations such as zero carbon targets, affordability and safety standards and reporting on an annual basis.
Our Cby28 Retrofit Programme has successfully unlocked LADs and Social Housing Decarbonisation Funding to supplement our investment and align stock investment with our retrofit investment.
Our commitment to becoming an environmentally responsible organisation is further reinforced by our pledge to start developing net zero ready new homes.
We have subscribed to SHIFT which provides an independent assessment of our environmental performance, and we will work together to define actions for improvement.
By placing increased emphasis on land led schemes, we will control and deliver a greater number of homes to our enhanced energy standard reducing energy consumption.
Alongside this, we aim to create safe, quality, sustainable homes and communities targeting solutions to address and manage living in costs for our customers, enhance biodiversity, reduce carbon emissions, whilst promoting placemaking and social inclusion.
Rory Henderson, Strategic Manager for Net Zero at LiveWest, said: “We place sustainability at the heart of our organisation and we are committed to reducing the environmental impact of our activities to create a clean and sustainable future for our customers, employees and our families.
“Our principal focus is around increasing the energy efficiency of our homes, reducing our carbon footprint and improving our customers’ lives.
“We are delighted to have been shortlisted for the work that the team do in improving LiveWest homes for our customers.”